Equestrienne Magazine First Edition 2022

EQ U ESTR I AN LU X E & LI FEST YLE

PASSION. CONNECTION. SOUL PURPOSE. SPANISH HORSES. COWGIRL-UP. ETHICAL TRAINING. HORSE GIRL ENERGY. UNSPOKEN MAGIC OF HORSES.

performaride.com.au

The

riding tights revolution is here

EQUESTRIENNE noun (French)

‘A female rider or performer on horseback.’

Hi, I’m Sam. Some of you will know me from Flash Pony. During Covid, a horsey publication put a call out for new contributors. Travel was an issue at the time & I thought that was something I might be able to do. I started thinking about all the amazing people I have met photographing equestrian events over the last 5 years. Some are are doing it all, living their best lives. Some are doing it tough, working hard, hustling, Chasing cattle, titles, times. Chasing their dreams. So many inspiring women in particular. Young upand-comers, professional trainers & riders, breeders, business owners & amateurs like me. I was so excited, I put all my ideas in an email to their editorial coordinator.

When they didn’t reply I thought, ok...

I still think these are stories worth telling, I will make my own magazine & publish them myself.

It started with an idea but the women who contributed, supported me & believed in the worthiness & relevance of this concept are the ones who inspired & motivated me to actually get it done.

I’ve always loved the saying ‘create the things you wish existed.’ So when things went wrong or I felt like giving up, I’d just keep asking myself - ‘Do you want this to exist?’ So even though this has been a huge project for me, in a way it was easy, because I knew ‘why’ I was doing it (even though I really had no idea what I was doing or how to use the design software...) I just kept going & tried to figure it out as I went. It took a long time but it’s a process, like learning to ride well, that can’t be rushed!

This is a publication for ‘us’. We might not always be in the money or the ribbons, but we know winning is not about those things anyway. (I’d totally be up for one of those champagne fights on a podium, though!) We know that ‘good rides only’ is just not reality & that we sometimes learn more on our bad days than on our best ones. There will be a lot of introductions in this issue as many of our contributors will be regulars. So come along for the ride & get to know us.

This is a platform which connects equestriennes from all disiplines through our shared passion for horses. Something totally different, less results-based, more inclusive, more beautiful, more authentic & a lot more fun! Horse girl energy is a real thing - let’s celebrate it! And while we’re doing that, let’s also normalise ethical & intentional horse care, riding & training.

Equestrian sports are subject to huge scrutiny these days; (remember the Modern Pentathlon!? How could we forget..) We must showcase our deep connection with horses, our devotion to their mental & physical well-being, our dedication to their soundness & fitness, our sincere love of the horse, first & foremost. To us, horses are not a hobby, they are not equipment nor are they luxury accessories (although paying for them sure does feel like it sometimes!) They are our best friends, teammates & much-loved members of our families.

I live in the Gold Coast Hinterland with my charming husband Jérôme, our two amazing kids, Saffron & Maison & three beautiful horses. I would especially like to thank Lek Young for being the ‘editor’s editor’ & my husband for everything he’s done over the last year to help me make this a reality. Incredibly grateful, thank you.

This first edition is dedicated to my beautiful Nan, Mary, who passed away in March last year. Life is short. Buy the horse.

Take the trip. Go to the show. Just start.

Time is our most valuable commodity. I have loved spending mine curating this.

If you have chosen to spend your time reading it, thank you.

Sam Image by Jade Schofield//Forever After Photography

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FIRST EDITION 2022

08.

F E AT U R E S

CH O OSI NG A CHAMPI ON A mand a Phillips

16.

RACE TO RANCH B ri ttany Flinn

22.

G RACE & POWER of the Sp ani sh H ors e

32.

ART & SOU L Ni col e Sl a ter

46.

SUGAR BEACH RANCH I sl and Paradi s e

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this publication is created & read & pay our respects to Elders past & present.

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EQ UE ST R I EN N E M AGA Z I N E .C O M

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

56.

ANNI E BOYD C ow b oy H a t te r y

64.

BANGALOW H O RS E H OS P I TAH o rs e G irl E ne rg y

78.

R I D E RS D an i H e ss & J a me s Fe r ri e r

86.

B E H IND T H E BRA N D Ka t i e Qui g l ey//Eq u ip a d

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H O RS E S R i ve r v i ew C ind e rel l a

FRONT C OV E R NI COLE SLATER & ‘C HI LLI’ P h o to g ra p h e d at h o m e i n V i c to r ia , A u s t ra l i a .

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50.

G LOBE-TROTTI NG H el en Crud en

S TA B L E

70.

A GI R L I N THE GU LF Rosi e Al exand er

76.

T H E CAMPDRAF T COACH M e agan H opkins

96.

Q & A AOR A nne -M ari e La ss erre

100.

EQ UIN E ASSI STED THERAPY H el en Hui e

All content is Copyright ©Equestrienne Magazine 2022.

All rights reserved. Unauthorised use or reproduction of any content is strictly prohibited. The opinions expressed are not neccessarily those of the editor.

All photos are ©Flash Pony//Sam Cavallo unless otherwise stated.

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Adve r t i si n g I n q u i r i e s he l lo@e q u e st r i e n n e m aga z i n e . co m EQ UE ST R I E N N E M AGA Z I N E .C O M

105.

ESSENTIALS

WELLNESS Ambre Wha tl ey

108.

COO-EE F ROM COLEYCHELLE Ali hall

110.

CONF I DENCE Zo e O li ve

112.

WOMEN + HORSES M el Spi ttall

116.

VET WRAPS Dr. Ru th

Share your EM exp eri ence wi th u s

@equestrienne_magazine 100% Australian owned & designed.

Printed in Australia by Eureka Printing.

CHOOSING A CHAMPION

W I T H A M A N DA P H I L L I P S I consider Amanda Philips to be a reference when it comes to how to produce & present for success in the show ring. Whenever I see her at a show she has something so shiny & perfect on the end of her lead you might mistake it for a life-sized Breyer model, usually with a broad sash or garland around its neck. Whether it’s an elegant Galloway or refined riding pony, she just always seems to have the best. We actually bought a Shetland pony from Amanda a few years ago. My daughter was nearly 12 & the pony was only 2 & I wondered what she would do with her until she could break her in. ‘She will have so much fun showing her!’ She assured me. I wasn’t convinced. Inhand showing has never really appealed to me; I’ve always thought the point of having a horse was to run less. To my great surprise, we actually did have a lot fun! Well, the most fun I’ve ever had at a horse show anyway. There was less gear required, less training, less time getting ready, no tears, no falls & much less stress on the day. We could go to a show & be home by midday with the ribbons to prove it. I’ll admit, thanks to Amanda, I’m a convert.

And buying that Shetland changed our lives forever in the best possible ways.

But that is another story for another time.

We sat down to order breakfast at a local café. It’s a busy weekday morning, the air is charged with loud chatter and strong coffee. I asked what she would like to order. ‘I don’t eat meat,’ she said. ‘I remember when I had my son (now 21) we lived next to a paddock of cows & calves. When the babies were taken away, the mothers would just call & cry for them. I realised they are just the same as us. Horses, cows, to me, they’re the same. I don’t tolerate cruelty of any kind.’ We both order coffees & avo on toast & i asked her to tell me about where her love of showing began.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

‘I started riding when I was 7. I was so tall I went from a Shetland to a 15 hand horse. We had no money, I bought a horse for $50. It was crazy. I had a green acrylic numnah. Back then, no one really judged you on what gear you had. We were all just out there having a go. I think I won champion novice at the Gold Coast show that year!

I kept showing & then a few years later I was at a Horse of the Year show where I won the supreme led out of a line-up of 35 horses. Probably to date it’s still my favourite win because it was just so unexpected. I don’t think I even stabled the horses back then, I was still just out there having a go. So while I have come in and out of the show world a few times in my life, I have actually been doing it for a very long time & I think people realise now that I’m probably not a one-horse-wonder.

In 2006 I’d just got married & had a bit of a break from horses. I saw a photo of a mare in Horse Deals and I said to my husband ‘I’m going to buy that horse!’ He freaked out, but as soon as I saw her, I just knew & that was when I really started getting back into it. Soon afterwards I broke my ankle pretty badly & that put an end to my riding career.

“I’ve found my place with horses because I don’t ride anymore. I think you can still have a really important role with horses without riding.”

So now I do what most people don’t really want to do, the whole beginning stage of foal-prepping up to being ready to start under saddle. People don’t realise actually how hard that part is. It’s a lot of time & effort to get them up to that next point. So whilst in-hand showing may present as a bit of a beauty pageant, it’s really ultimately setting them up for that next stage of going out as a saddle horse.’

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‘That’s where I get a bit stuck. Because I don’t ride, I then have to find them the person to take them through what I call, the next chapter in their book. Some of my chapters are short, some of them are long.

When I sell a horse, I don’t stop loving them. I still think of them as being my horse, they just don’t live with me. My gate is always open.

They are always welcome to come back. I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure that they’re always in good circumstance. And a lot of the time the horses go to people that I know so they do stay in my life. I feel really lucky that so many breeders have given me the opportunity to have owned so many beautiful horses. There are some fantastic breeders in Australia & some amazing horses.’

I like mares.

Most people can’t stand mares because they are a bit more opinionated & challenging but I find that I personally work better with them. I’m really intolerant of colts or stallions. If they do one stupid thing I’m like, that’s it – you’re getting gelded!

I like to have a few so I can pull one in and ask the question, ‘Do you want to have a go?’ If they’re ok with it, we’ll do a few shows then they go back out again when I feel like they’re starting to get a bit over it.

Because then you’re not getting the best out of them & I don’t want them to go sour. If I bring one in to prep and they’re not ready, I’ll just put them back out again. I’m not going to force them to do something they’re not ready for.

Don’t stay at a show all day with a young horse.

Go out, do a few classes and come home, unplait them & get them back out in the paddock. That’s how I thank them for being good at a show. I often don’t touch them for a week after I take them out. That’s their reward.

I like babies to be babies.

I don’t work any of them, they just chase each other around. We have balls at home, they run around & fall over. They’re not allowed to be naughty or rude but we let them be young & do stupid stuff. They’re not over-rugged. They stay out in the rain & roll in the mud. If we go to a show & it rains, they know they’re not going to melt. I don’t try to squash their personality

I want them to be happy.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

I’ve always been arty, I was really into the arts at school then I went into hairdressing, now I do nails. I always want to present myself well. I scrub the water troughs & I’m always mowing, I keep my property immaculate.

Everyone gets a bath & clean rugs once a week. I like to shampoo & hot oil them, condition their tails & then use Judges Choice hair serum. It makes me feel good doing it & like I’m looking after them properly.

Every horse or pony that comes into my life I try to make the best that they can be.

I’m always late & rushing so I’ve had to learn how to do things very quickly & very correctly. It’s a bit like me putting eyeliner on my eyes before I go out everyday since I was 15, when I go to a show, because I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just become second-nature. It would traumatise me to even think about going out into the ring without eye gloss on their eyes. Winning best presented is my favourite class. If I win that I often think, that’s ok – we can go home now!

Achieving a small step with a young horse is more important than a ribbon. When you take them to a show, the focus should not be winning a ribbon. If you take them out & they behave or do something better than last time, that’s a win. The ribbon will come later.

“You can make any horse look better.

Presentation is super important .

Whether they’re going to a local show or a Royal show, the horse will

a lways look on-point.

That’s my job.”

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FIRST EDITION 2022

All of us who compete, ultimately it is a competition and the goal is to win, but it’s not everything. That’s a very shallow space to live in. If it doesn’t go your way, consider it a training day & move on. When you leave the ring, it’s done, it’s over. I always say, you can be the prize-chook one weekend & the feather-duster the next.

That’s showing!

“I can go home feeling like a winner without a ribbon.”

There’s no such thing as a perfect horse. I do go with breeding. There are lines of personal preference. I look at their legs & feet, how they come out of their shoulder, I like tight-together ears. I like horses that own themselves, it’s just a look that they have in their eyes.

The mother is just as important as the father. I think people place too much importance on stallions, they’re really equally important. I personally like foals from well-performed mares. To me, my broodmares are queens.

I would love to have a pinto Section A riding pony competing in the open ring. In Australia, I think we’re a bit behind the times. People get quite offended if there’s a different coloured horse in the ring but if there are 25 bay horses going around on a circle it’s a bit like watching paint dry sometimes.

I think with the introduction of warmbloods into the showring, movement has become more and more important. A good mover sets themselves apart. If you’ve got 10 beautiful horses in a line-up, the one that can really bang-it out in the workout will place higher. I love watching a horse going around with that spark. Nature is also really important. There’s no point having the best horse out there if you can’t get the thing around.

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Kate Halliday & Kalimna Quick Hit (pictured as foal, top left). Image by Lisa Gordon.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

If I’m judging people I know, I always say ‘well it better not be shit because you’re going to be down the line!

I don’t care who you are, I’m here to judge the horse & it better be a good workout or you’re going to be last!’

If you can’t ride for any reason or just want to start showing youngstock or halter horses, get in touch with breeders that you like & do your homework. Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you want. If I can’t sight a horse myself, I would get a vet to check it out. If you purchase something that’s conformationally correct then it’s just a natural progression producing them as a show horse.

If you’re not very experienced with youngstock, make sure you have good people around you & be certain whoever you bring into the horses’ life is very credible. Make sure their training methods are consistent with where you want to go. Because it’s very hard to un-do what’s already done.

Gut health is a huge thing for horses, which basically comes down to let them graze on grass! Try to feed the right thing for each individual horse. If you can’t afford more expensive feeds or supplements, just do the best you can.

Don’t rush! Be prepared for the journey & enjoy it instead of just trying to get to the destination.

And remember, no one’s above anyone else - they’re just at different stages of their journeys.

My husband has just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s so for me things will start to change as time goes on.

When I can’t show as much I will focus on a new goal- trying to breed champions. And maybe do some more judging.

I’d still like to participate.“

EM

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Race toRanch

By Brittany Flinn

A rangy, long-faced bay mare called “Darlene” poked her head over the stall door, but quickly retreated again as I went to pat her. “Yep, I’ll take her” I heard my mouth say, probably sounding much more certain than I felt as our 100-day Race to Ranch journey began. As we headed down the road with her in my trailer, I shoved down the myriad of doubts that I had.

Would she make a ranch horse? Would she be sound? Would she cope? I hope she’s going to be ok at this. I wonder if she will freak out at the emus?

Was she the one?

Sometimes, you just have to

cowgirl up,

take a deep breath and back yourself, I guess.

She stepped off the trailer and looked around, curious and soft, but with an air of bravery. There was no green grass or white post and rail fences, no carefully managed feed times and soft stables. Her new world was red dirt and bushy plants with paddocks full of tough geldings and natural booby traps like logs, stumps, old netting fences and holes. I imagine it would have been like arriving on Mars. I put her in the safest yard I could overnight and then hit the hay.

The next day, Darlene started off pretty concerned that she was the only horse left on earth because the geldings had left to graze, and there was not another horse for at least 50klms. I’m sure she thought the apocalypse had come and she had been left behind. I mean, a racehorse, from birth, is never really alone. Born in a foaling down area that usually has a group of mares ready to foal hanging around, they are then in the paddock with their mum and all the other babies and mamas. They are weaned with a group of other weanlings, then started into yearling prep with a bunch of other yearlings. They exercise, travel, stall, do trackwork, and race all with other horses alongside them, so it was like her entire world was falling apart. Being only 4, she was also still quite dependent on other horses socially. I caught her and introduced myself – but to be honest, I might as well have been a fly landing on her face, because she paid me about as much attention as one.

I rounded up my other horses and tied them. As soon as they were in the vicinity, she dropped her guard, softened, and came over for a pat. I saddled up and checked out how she would feel about my big, flat western saddle. Back cinch done up snugly, I asked her to move around me which she did with ease. The trot and canter produced a mild tail swish, but other than that she was fairly non-plussed. I made the conscious decision to ride her in the hackamore. In the horsemanship tradition I like to follow, a young horse is usually started in the hackamore, and as their mouth, mind and education matures they are progressed into the two-rein, which is a combination of a small hackamore (“bosalita”) and a curb or spade bit. I thought maybe working with a new set of gear completely would be like working from a clean slate –worth a try!

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FIRST EDITION 2022

That afternoon I collapsed in a heap, feeling bone tired more than I ever had. Sure, the eight-hour journey each way was big, but this felt like something more. As I lay on the bed with my two kiddos softly snuggling up to me, missing my presence after my big drive, something told me that there could be more to this tiredness than just being road-weary. I crawled into the back of my mind and had a think. Then it struck me. Pregnant. Just like that.

I hopped up and rummaged through my drawer for an old dusty pregnancy test that was surely out of date, and went to the bathroom.

Two pink lines.

Deep breath. Now not only do I have a racehorse to transform into a ranch horse and haul her 1000 klm away from home to compete in front of the public, but I am also growing a tiny human inside my own body that demands my time, energy, brainspace and caution. “It will be fine!” I heard my mouth say.

The next day I was chatting to my aunty and casually slipped in about the baby. “Oh well you will have to give up all that horse nonsense then!” she said. I bristled. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind about giving up. I owed it to my self, Darlene, and cowgirls everywhere to show that we are not just vessels for a baby the minute we are pregnant – we are women with dreams and aspirations and lives outside of our procreation status. No. I wouldn’t be giving up. Darlene had my back and I had hers –

we (all three of us!) would be in this together.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

The next 100 days progressed slowly but nothing seemed to phase her. As long as I presented it in a logical, calm way, nothing was too big of an ask. Slowly, in little increments, I felt like we might just be able to handle a big competition like Cowgirls Gathering. Not once did I think we would win, but increasingly, I thought at least we might be able to get through the event without a disaster of some kind, when her racehorse brain could kick in and we would be flying around the arena like we were at the Melbourne Cup. Introducing her to cattle was interesting... Did you know you can actually SEE a horse’s heart beating? And hear it? Well you can. Poor Darlene’s heart was hammering in her chest when she saw the mooing beasts coming over the sandhill for the first time. Sitting on her quivering body, I could feel her wrestling with the urge to run, run away, as fast as she could. She stuck with me like a rock however, her insides like jelly, but her façade strong and unwavering.

As our days on the station were drawing to a close, and the competition date loomed, I tried to set her up for success in every experience I gave her. That dark, early morning I kissed my sleeping babies in their beds and waved goodbye to my husband in the dusty sunrise, I knew I had done everything I could to prepare her for the next few days.

I didn’t just have a horse travelling with me, I had a friend.

Pulling up to Cowgirls Gathering in my trailer with Darlene

on board, I knew we were as ready as we would ever be. I knew I had done my best by her and she would be her best self, no matter what the competition held for us. I unloaded her and was immediately met by some of the other girls in the competition. Surprisingly, most of us had never met before, only participating in weekly Zoom calls where we would sometimes be laughing, crying, or pulling our hair out. It was wonderful to put names to faces finally and see how each of us had brought our strengths to the horses and this challenge, and turned to each other to help fill in the weak spots.

As I walked around the grounds that first balmy afternoon, women helped each other build yards, reverse their trailers and lug water buckets for their ponies. The anticipation crackled with the impending weather as strangers were lending hands to peg down tarps, loaning each other rugs and find the coffee. As the band struck a tune for that first night and the thunder clapped overhead, the electricity of 1000 cowgirls all together in the one place was about to make history.

I held on to my hat and looked over at many of these women who had never met each other before, as they milled around and basked in the fresh rain and never once lost the smile off their faces. The first Cowgirls Gathering was an experience that nobody there will forget.

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The next morning, with the rain settling the dust and making everything sparkle, the day had a feeling of excitement and busy-ness. The morning hummed with people tacking up, chatting to new and old friends, milling around on horses getting ready for their first event on the schedule. I struggled to get my jeans buttoned up over my 18-week old bump, but luckily I had a friend make me a bigger belt to accommodate the extra space I was taking up in my midsection. I brushed Darlene till she shone, hoping I had done everything to make her look and feel her best. I swung a leg over her, and she quietly waited – this was no different to any other day, I told myself, and her, as we walked to the arena to have a look.

Stepping into that big indoor for the competition was like a dream. The crowd was absolutely electric, with everyone calling out encouragement and greetings. I was able to really be present, and take it all in. I caught the eyes of some people in the crowd and I was actually able to smile and enjoy myself. I clucked Darlene into a canter and felt her power beneath me as she surged forward then softened in my hands into an easy lope. If this was the way our classes would go, I knew she would be fine. She felt strong and soft, brave and willing, sensitive and ready.

These thoroughbreds all wowed the crowd with their skills & determination, grit & tenacity at competing in something so foreign & strange to them.

The horses were amazing ambassadors for the versatility of the breed & the horsemanship of their trainers.

I gulped when I saw one of the obstacles in our versatility class – a big bridge. It was towed in by a car and unfolded – long, high and narrow – it was something I can honestly say I had never even approached or considered showing to Darlene. But there was no way I could show it to her before the class, I just had to trust.

Finally, I was the last rider in, it was my turn. Plenty of the horses before had faltered at this bridge, the angle was pretty steep and demanding. I trotted over the poles and lined up for the bridge. I took a milisecond to assess it – considered letting her look at it, but then decided that it wasn’t a thing. I looked past it like it was just something in our way to get where we were going, Cowgirl Up Big D! Next thing I felt her front rise up and her big, round haunches power up – she jumped onto this clattery structure, and paused. The crowd gasped, and were silent. I kept my gaze fixed beyond the horizon and Big D calmly tiptoed down the other side & continued on.

My heart burst for her!

What a Champion!

What a Ranch Horse!

After my last class – my freestyle, where riders had a chance to show off their unique skills & style – I rode out with the biggest grin on my face. I had perfomed a homage to my horse in a long, flowing red dress and a big red sombrero. I used my garrocha and my rope to dance with my horse and oh, I was so so proud of her.

To Dave Stamey’s “The Vaquero Song” I bowed down to this mare with tears streaming down my face, and meant every ounce of gratitude I paid her.

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We had done it. No matter the outcome, I knew we had done our very best & I was so very proud of her. That night, with fanfare and finger drumrolls on the table, the winners were announced, and I couldn’t quite believe my ears when I heard “Brittany and Darlene!” I was blown away to receive co-champion with the other “gal from the bush” – Jane Moore. What an honour, and an amazing tribute to our special horses.

I looked over and somebody had managed to get my husband and kids on Facetime and I could hear them screaming and see them dancing around the living room. How could I have done this? A station mama, kiddos waiting for me at home, I was worrying about if they had enough dinner, or were missing me. Little bubba inside me, making me tired and heavy and slow. A million miles to travel, no coach or arena or vet nearby. How did we do it? I pinched myself and savoured the hugs from all the people that loved and believed in me, even if I didn’t believe in myself sometimes.

Darlene had done the impossible, but perhaps she had always been this way. Generations of mighty, strong athlete’s blood coursed through her veins, the ghostly sound of their thundering hooves pounding in her heart.

Her ancestors, the champions of the world whispering in her ears – You can do this, you are a winner. This is your destiny.

Cowgirls Gathering 2022 will be held at Kilkivan Showgrounds 30th September - 2nd October.

Follow this years Race to Ranch competition @CowgirlsGathering on Facebook & Instagram.

For more info & tickets visit cowgirlsgathering.com.au

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STUD FEATURE

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

VENI A QUOD VI S Harmony Hills LUSITANO, IBERIAN & SPANISH HORSES

‘Harmony Hills’ is located on the Great Diving Range in Queensland & edges the western border of Main Range National Park, which you’ll find almost only by accident on a backroad somewhere between Warwick & Toowoomba.

About 20 minutes after turning off the highway, the sealed-road fades away to dirt & trundles you along a little further to a gravel driveway. A farmhouse sits at the top of the hill, only half visible through a line of gumtrees. Around the house, huge clumps of fragrant lavender push up against the fence. It’s early afternoon but today it’s slightly overcast, cool & shady. I haven’t seen Susanne since the Andalusian Horse Association Australia National Show in 2018 where she was exhibiting a few of her horses. She breeds top-quality Spanish horses & I love seeing the photos she posts, especially at this time of year when there are foals to swoon over! Vamos..

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FIRST EDITION 2022

STUD FEATURE My friend Lek is with me (she’s an amazing artist, I will introduce you to her in a future issue) & today we have come to visit Susanne at home. I prefer to meet people in their own space, it’s where they are most comfortable & conversation can be unhurried & candid. Shortly after we arrived, Susanne offers to take us up to see the mares & foals in the top paddock. And what better way to get re-acquainted with someone you’ve only met once & haven’t seen for years than having to cling on to them from behind as they drive you up a rugged hillside on a four-wheeler?!

Anyway, it was totally worth it. At the top of the hill, a vast plateau of native grasses & wildflowers appeared & 3 mares with foals start trotting up to greet us. The mares have soft eyes, long forelocks & shiny coats. They look wonderfully well looked after, as do their robust colt foals. All 3 boys are very curious & friendly. Some foals can be quite stand-offish but these guys are just divine!

“This is temperament, not training.”

Susanne says, “All my foals are born at the busiest time of the year (for her work), so they hardly get handled yet they love to meet you and engage.”

Susanne was born in Germany & grew up on a marina in the harbour of Hamburg & says she loved horses before she had even met one. When she was 4 years old, she received a picture of the racehorse Secretariat for Christmas. This was the only horse she’d ever seen until she started vaulting lessons at age 9. Unfortunately, her parents’ divorce put a stop to those when they became unaffordable for her mother. Her dreams of riding once again came true when she graduated from university with her engineering degree at 23 & got her first job. Shortly afterwards however she was transferred to Hong Kong & wasn’t able to ride again until she migrated to Australia in 1998.

It was then that she was finally able to buy a horse of her own. She made her way through the pages of Horsedeals until a small ad caught her eye. A Spanish horse, a young gelding, recently broken.

He ticked all the boxes but she had never seen a Spanish horse before, so she decided to go and have a look.

“He amazed me

with his incredible power.

I rode dozens of other horses, mainly Warmbloods because I’m German, 24

but nothing compared. So, I bought him.”

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Susanne describes herself as ‘not being very good at riding,’ so she learnt how to drive a carriage instead & started competing in combined driving, show driving & scurry races. When her carriage horse sadly passed away & she didn’t have a replacement, she went back to riding by necessity. ‘I’m still not very good at it,’ she adds. Lek & I have both seen her ride a doma vaquera, sidesaddle. She’s actually amazing. And very humble.

In 2003 she graduated with her Bachelor of Veterinary Science & bought this property, Harmony Hills. The pasture gently rolls up & away from the road & plateaus.

Her arena sits on one of the highest points & makes for a spectacular backdrop while riding. It is here that she began her Lusitano/Iberian/Spanish horse stud.

‘Venia quod vis’ is her stud motto & it translates to Grace & Power.

“I love horses that can do a job & look good doing it.

I like horses that like to work & do not need to be drilled endlessly to learn how to do a 20m circle. Horses that remember their training & are proud to perform, but don’t need working down.”

Oh, and did we mention yet that they’re gold?! Most of them are dilutes (one cream gene), palominos & buckskin, or the more rare double-dilute (two cream genes) which gives them a pale cream to off-white coat & striking blue eyes.

Suanne has been to Portugal repeatedly for riding trips & also to scout for stallions to import frozen semen from. “I need to meet a stallion I want to breed with, because temperament and rideabilty/trainabilty are paramount - more important than anything. At the end of the day, I breed riding horses. If I use outside stallions, I look at the horse & ask two questions first: Would I like to ride it & feel safe? And could I ride it, bearing in mind that I am a timid amateur? If I can answer both questions with yes, then I look at conformation and performance.”

Susanne says she must also look at the mares she wants to put the stallion over & find their biggest flaw & any weakness they have, then choose something that counters those imperfections. “I am very critical of my own horses. You have to recognise weaknesses and faults, otherwise you cannot improve.”

While most of her mares are not broken in, Susanne describes them as being ‘perfectly amenable & happy to come & have a chat.’ If a filly seems to be any different, she will usually break her in & see if she likes riding her. And if not? ‘She certainly does not get into my broodmare band. “All my stallions are under saddle, even the mammoth donkey.

I would never stand a stallion that I don’t like riding.”

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Susanne told me she doesn’t breed horses that only professional riders can sit on & describes this as being a real priority goal. “Because I am an amateur & I will never have time to ride in breeding season, due to my work as a reproductive vet. Horses that are easy to handle find good homes & are well loved. Difficult horses that have special behavioural needs can end up being mistreated or become dangerous in the wrong hands.”

She usually starts working with the boys that are stallion material quite by early doing some ground work, teaching them to tie up, be loaded onto the truck & then mouthing them. They learn to stand still & listen, to move their body & feet & enjoy being worked. Susanne said she doesn’t follow a program; she just plays with them when she has time. This might mean a few sessions in a row or there might be a month or two in between sessions. When they are happy and confident, she sends them to be broken in. Her opinion is that different horses need different breakers & she tries to match them with someone who will be compatible with the horse. “If I am lucky one of my neighbours down the road has time to ride them. I don’t need the youngsters ridden in a circle for 6 weeks. I almost prefer a more sporadic approach because I will never have time to give any horse consistent training due to my time constraints.

They have to be happy to sit in the paddock for a few months between

rides & still be the same horse when I want to ride them next.

In my experience that does not work always with all horses (especially Warmbloods), but it is the only way they can be useful to me.” It’s worth noting that Susanne’s neighbour does often start the youngsters for her & he has, more than once, called her up after a few days & said she can come & get them because there’s nothing more that needs doing. She then rides them the 11kms home.

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Clearly there’s a lot to love about the Spanish horses who she describes as being ‘volunteers’ by nature. “You do not nag your mount but ask & allow. They will try to please you most of the time & give you as much as they can, if they understand what you are asking. No riding every stride!

The Iberian Horse has an innate sense of fairness.

If you keep shouting at them when they are already trying, they will get tense or irritated or shut down much quicker than other breeds.”

Susanne is an experienced horsewoman. Not only does she breed & rider her own horses, she also works as a reproductive vet & handles many different stallions over the course of the breeding season. “You have to love & admire stallions. And they know whether or not you love them. Imagine if you gave your partner a slap every time he got out of the shower. He soon would not be very happy to come to bed!” It is her opinion that trouble starts if you don’t respect them however, that does not mean that you don’t have clear rules and boundaries. She finds stallions in general respond very positively to her way of handling them, even those which are marked as difficult or even dangerous.

“I also feel that stallions are by nature intended to challenge other stallions at some point, but not the alpha mare of a herd.

So it makes sense that a dominant woman is less likely to get challenged by a stallion than a man who lets his guard down.”

And speaking of stallions, her own resident stallion is the one-and-only Udon (imp Spain).

I’d seen him advertised a few years ago & was thrilled to see he had come to Harmony Hills.

I asked Susanne how she came to own him. “I have loved him since he arrived in Australia.

After 45 years, I reconnected with my father & well, I finally got that pony he promised me!”EM

You can find Susanne on Facebook.

Quality youngstock sometimes available.

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COVER STORY

Image by Brett Goldsmith

ART & Slater SOUL Nicole

Around the same time as I had the idea to create this magazine, I saw Nicole Slater post a photo on Instagram.

It was a big, beautiful, incredibly detailed painting of a horse. I had photographed Nicole & husband, NRL royalty Billy Slater, at a celebrity polo match during the Magic Millions carnival the year before & had been ‘following’ her socials since then. They have the same dogs as me (Australian Shepherds, you always like people who have the same dogs as you). Most of us know Nicole & Billy are both horsey. They’ve both ridden since childhood, met at Pony Club & have a few racehorses & rescue horses at home. I instantly thought Nicole would be a perfect fit for the magazine, so I sent her an email, told her about the concept & asked if she would be interested. To be honest I couldn’t believe she actually replied, and when it was with a ‘yes’, I was ecstatic! For context, that was in June 2021. A lot has happened since then. Her ‘Stables Collection’ has been exhibited at Mitchelton Winery; she’s collaborated on a piece with Coolmore Stud & Ferrari; there are new commissions in the works & more opportunities unfolding for her. For me, the last 6 months have been quite the opposite. It’s been hard to bring the vision I have for this magazine into focus. I’ve struggled to find forward motion, doubted my ability & the project just kind of stalled as a result. It’s not until the following February that I find myself at the gate of their property outside Melbourne waiting to be buzzed in. But here I am, finally. I don’t know if I’m more excited about meeting Nicole or her pet goats, Chip & Kathy (All their pets feature regularly on Nicole’s socials; if you’re not already following her for the art, go follow her for the goats!).

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Their house & stables sit on top of a steep hill. It’s elevated & totally private. The property rolls away. Nicole’s studio sits to one side with well-fenced horse paddocks & a large arena down further. She comes out to greet me wearing a navy polo, Ariat jodhpurs & cowboy boots. It’s a vibe. She’s excited that restrictions have lifted & we can do stuff like this again. We jump in a UTV & head over to the neighbour’s place to meet Regis, a grey Percheron stallion who features in her dazzling works, ‘Regis’, ‘Blue’ & ‘Dream.’ “Isn’t he just so amazing!”

She says, climbing in through the rails of the fence. “He’s so big and hairy!” She’s not wrong, he’s possibly the biggest horse I’ve ever seen. Not the tallest, but the biggest. While she poses for a few photos, she starts to tell me about her recent collaboration with one of the most prestigious racehorse studs in the world. Nicole is friends with Tom Magnier, Coolmore Australia’s Principal, & she tells me that he invited her to display one of her works at a VIP night they were hosting during the Magic Millions carnival. ‘I’d painted the collection & all the exhibitions I’d tried to plan were constantly being cancelled through Covid which is why I did the virtual tour. So when they offered to share the space it was a great opportunity as I hadn’t been able to show any of my pieces in real-life. I thought this would be a great way of getting my work out there to a new audience.’

The logistics of moving huge paintings (her works are all large-scale… up to 3m x 5m) take a bit of planning at the best of times. When it’s just before Christmas & they have to be on site, fully installed a few days after New Year, it turns into a nightmare. Transporting a framed canvas was just not going to be possible in that timeframe. “So things started to not go to plan… but from that moment, it gave me a chance to pivot from where I thought I wanted to go to what I needed to do for my career.

When something is saying no, that’s no longer an option,

be open to a new option.

It actually turned out better. Because I couldn’t transport artwork at such short notice, I came up with the idea that I could paint one of their own horses for the event which would be more fitting anyway. If I was going to do it, I decided it had to be the best piece to date. I had just come onboard as an ambassador for da Vinci art brushes, there are only two of us in Australia, so I was trialling them & had a lot of access to new brushes.

Because I’m self-taught anyway I just started trying this different technique which gave me a more realistic texture of hair. I made the decision that I wanted to cover the entire horse with that full-on detail of hair & texture which takes a long time”.

Image by Brett Goldsmith

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NICOLE SLATER “I chose an image of the stallion Justify. Coolmore are running an incentive that the first of his progeny to win a race will win a Ferrari, so that’s where the collab came in to it. My artwork had to be approved by Ferrari for me to have any sort of association with them. There were a few days there at the beginning where I had the urgency to start the job because I only had a month to do it, but I had to wait in case it didn’t go ahead so I wouldn’t be wasting my time. It was a bit surreal when they said ‘we have to go back to Ferrari HQ in Italy for approval’, because I had thought I was just dealing with Coolmore. Ferrari is quite strict who they associate with because they are such a high-end luxury brand. So, when they approved me as a brand to be in that room with them that night I then had Ferrari AND one of the largest studs in the world to represent.

I needed to make sure

I did my brand & their brands justice.

I needed to make sure it was perfect. But I hadn’t painted it yet! I was so nervous, I had no guidance from anyone. No one wanted to see it. They put their full trust in me that whatever I wanted to do would be fine. I dragged Billy into the studio halfway through his mowing to double-check what I was about to do was going to be good enough, because once I started, there wasn’t time to re-do it.

It’s the first time I’ve given myself such a challenge. I really feel that by pushing myself harder I discovered more skills for myself & it was just an opportunity to start perfecting everything I’ve been working on over the last two years.”

Deciding she’s been nibbled on enough, Nicole climbs out of Regis’ paddock & we hop back into the UTV. I’ve seen the painting so I know she got it done. It’s impressive & powerful, an incredible evocation of the stallion. His pose has all the aggression of a Ferrari, revving. So how did she end up getting it there? “Well, I rang Mark Chapman from Chapman & Bailey who I deal with all the time for my art supplies & said to him ‘how am I going to make this work? I need to have this painting ready only a few days after New Year’s… on the Gold Coast... What am I going to do?’ He said ‘I will fly in & make sure it gets stretched & framed onsite in the Ferrari showroom for you.’ So I then had to carry a 3m x 2m painting up with me on the plane. It went underneath. I was having an absolute heart attack.

Ev e r y t h i n g wa s r i d i n g o n t h i s pa i n t i n g !

It had to survive the flight and get there without getting lost. The framing was cut a month prior, so we were relying on all these pieces of the puzzle to make sure that it was going to go together. It was insane. Bill and I spent four hours setting it up in the space & then good old Covid struck again & the night got cancelled! It was unbelievable. But Tom (from Coolmore) bought the painting (pictured right). They were so wrapped with it. I know, again, not everything goes to plan, but I couldn’t have been happier because I’d pushed myself &

because I had spent two years preparing I was ready for it

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for that moment.”

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We continue to chat as we cruise back across the property. Nicole tells me she was dyslexic as a child but was always ‘extremely driven’ to make art her career. Even when she was still at high school she couldn’t wait for the weekend so she could drive herself up to the Port Douglas markets to sell her artwork. Her parents didn’t really know what to think when she’d told them, ‘Oh, I’m going to be an artist,’ but her Dad, Nick, built her an art studio in the backyard, helped make canvases & set up her market stalls. Sadly, he died in a bike accident when Nicole was just 21. “I had that moment where I knew that he was my biggest supporter & I hadn’t done anything. So that is one of the things that has always driven me to continue because I want to make him proud.

If he was here, he would be like, holy… You’re still doing it!”

Nicole & Billy had only been together for a year at the time & she told me it felt somewhat like a changing of the guard when her Dad passed. Billy became that person for her & has been ever since. “Even though I did put my career on hold to a degree, he’s been a huge supporter in what I do as well. He’s always made sure I’ve had whatever I needed, even when I said ‘I’m going to rent a space in Richmond’, so I could keep trying, even if things didn’t work out. I started this venture 20 years ago.

It’s been a long journey but I never gave up. I could have had it easier but I like to push myself, be harder on myself, want more from myself.

I really thank Bill for his patience because it probably would have been a lot easier if I’d just stayed at home, looked after the kids & made sure that dinner was on the table. My father & Billy had to be the most patient people to just be around me sometimes. It’s so random the way my mind works. I can’t turn it off. I was forever changing the house, Billy would come home & I’d have sanded the whole table top off or something. One time I painted a wall pink because I decided it would go really well with a painting. He still says, ‘Oh my God, remember the pink wall!’ I think painting is probably the best thing for me otherwise I’d be demolishing the house every week, reinventing the wheel. I can’t stop.”

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NICOLE SLATER Arriving back at her place, we pull up outside a smaller paddock where two goats, two sheep & two dogs all crowd the gate bleeting, barking & baa-ing.

Once inside, Nicole sits down on the ground & they all mob her. It’s one of the sweetest, funniest things I’ve ever seen. There’s Mary the sheep & Alfie the Shepherd both in her lap. Mary is butting her head against Nicole’s & she’s trying to stop the dog licking her face. Buddy is jumping up on me & Chip the goat gives me an inquiring nudge with his little, but rather pointy, horns. We are both laughing out loud, there’s a lot going on, it’s pretty wild!

The sheep & goats were all born at an abattoir where they would normally be processed with the other animals. These though, are very lucky to have been saved by friends of the family & hand raised. There’s a lot of fur & pawprints on us by the time we get to the studio. Nicole unlocks the big glass doors & slides them open to reveal an inviting, light-filled space with white walls & high ceilings. There are two canvases stapled to the walls.

One is a Friesian trotting towards me, the other the profile of a horsehead.

One is more worked than the other. I can see how she’s starting to build the layers with colours & textures. I feel privy to a process that takes place in private. The synergy of paint & linen, hundreds of hours, thousands of brushstrokes. It’s something between what can be defined & the divine. It’s special to be here, to share space. I remind myself to snap a few photos.

They’re all candid, nothing posed. ‘‘Everything I’ve been doing over the last 2 years has been through lockdown”, she says, “I’ve been very fortunate to have my studio in my backyard. The world stopped, my husband wasn’t travelling, I didn’t have all the distractions of kids and school, it was the first time ever I was able to put 100% of my time into it. It’s pretty cool to see how the detail has evolved & also the techniques I’m using. It’s all just been trial and error.

I think art is through the artist.

I have never been through a school or studied art.

There’s no right or wrong with art. I’m so confident my style is my style.

I don’t want to know what everyone else is doing...

I don’t want to doubt myself.”

I asked her how she manages to separate her work life from home life? “It’s a tricky one! I put my studio in a paddock full of goats and sheep. I’m surrounded by horses, I’m with horses all day long. I knew from the start when we designed our home that the studio had to be somewhere apart that I do not see every day so I can escape it mentally.

I think it’s really important to not feel like I live at my work.

Especially with art, you are giving so much of yourself that it becomes really draining. I have little breaks with Chip & Kathy (the goats). I can sometimes just sit out there for hours. My lifestyle inspires me, it always has.I never switch-off, I don’t think artists can, but having a separate space is really important.”

From the studio we wander down to the bottom paddocks where the horses are.

Leo & his mum, Zen are in one paddock with the kids’ pony. Leo is a loudly marked paint. He’s very striking with his bold blaze & blue eyes. He walks straight over & puts his nose to Nicole’s face, sharing breath. The others wander over for pats & scratches too. Zen came to them as a neglected & frightened mare with baby Leo who was only a few months old at the time & totally unhandled. You would never know to look at them. They are fat, shiny & friendly! Nicole & Billy have done all their rehabilitation & even started them under saddle themselves. Leo (named after Leonardo da Vinci) & Nicole clearly have a special connection. “Out of all the Stables Collection, I think he (‘Leo’, 2021, pictured) is my best piece. I think the reason is that he’s got blue eyes. He’s got 4 different colours going on in his face. He’s got a pink nose & this amazing transparent line around the outside of his white blaze. To play with all that in a painting was really cool.

I’m not selling ‘Leo’, he’s the only piece that I will not sell.”

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“When I started painting horses I didn’t anticipate doing what is now the Stables Collection but I think it has come about because we’re around horses more than ever before. Now that I’m painting them, I’m studying them more. I get obsessed by their detail now. I know the direction of hair. That’s so important, especially when I’m painting such high detail. I’m constantly perfecting my skill, creating the shadows and just playing with the detail of the 1%. Like the whiskers have their own shadows. I love playing with whiskers! Half in shade, half in sun. And the nostril hairs, I obsess over nostril hairs now, like it’s my favourite part! And the eyelashes! I love ideas like that. You might look at my paintings at first and notice the mane & the eye, but if you start to really look, you’re going to notice details that you just didn’t see at first glance. Now when I take a photo I think of all those things and when I’m looking for my next reference image

I look for movement, I look for shadows, I look for texture.

I feel that it is actually really helpful to be around them all day long, then I go and paint them. I need to make sure I know my subject, and I do. I’m so confident. I know them so well. I know them more than anything I’ve ever painted.”

Nicole seems totally in her element surrounded by these horses, who are so different from the tradition of hacks she rode as a young girl. She grew up competing in the showring & won many Royal Show titles. These days she prefers a horse-centric approach to riding with good horsemanship the main focus for her & Billy.

They both enjoy attending clinics & do a lot of groundwork & desensitisation, even with their Thoroughbreds.

The Real Deal, 2021. Images of artworks by Brett Goldsmith

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NICOLE SLATER

“We live and breathe it every day.

We’ve got our broodmares & the foals at home now. We’re walking them over tarps and bouncing balls off them. I hope we don’t make them too quiet,” she jokes, “We still want them to run!” Slater Thoroughbreds is a boutique breeding program that produces a few quality foals per season. The Slaters sold their first yearling through the Gold Coast Magic Millions sale in 2019 (racing name Inner Spirit) & a Redoute’s Choice son at the 2021 sales. Both colts are out of their prized broodmare, Inishowen, who is a multiple race winner herself. The Slater’s stud produced two fillies this year, ‘Polly’ by Pride of Dubai & ‘Pretzel’ by superstar sire, Snitzel. All their horses are part of the family, including the ones bred for racing. The kids feed them & give them their paddock names.

Nicole & Billy both had active, outdoorsy childhoods. One of the reasons they decided to make the move from inner-city Melbourne to this 20 acre horse property is so they could give Tyla, 13 & Jake, 11 the same experiences. “I’m not big on leaving and going anywhere now,” Nicole tells me.

“We spent so long dreaming of this place, I’m more than happy to hang out here. I spend my days off literally just enjoying everything we’ve created.

If we can have people over to share it with, the more the merrier. We only really stop when we have friends over. Instead of working on the farm, we sit & enjoy the farm! I love having a cuppa with friends & just sitting down with the animals, enjoying their presence.”

With so many animals to look after, the kids back at school & weekend sports, life after the launch of the Stables Collection is busier than ever. “I need coffee,” she says with a laugh. “Because our life is so busy with the farm, it’s become quite physical on our bodies, I find now that I’m getting older that I need to make sure I’m looking after myself.

Sometimes that’s by doing an hour at my neighbour’s Pilates class. The older we get, the busier our lives get, the more important it is to make sure you have those moments for yourself. I find joy in sitting down for 10 minutes to have my coffee with Billy & we watch birds fly by. That’s my little go-to. We have to do those things. It can be something as simple as that.

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I have to have little moments like that in the day.”

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Speaking of coffee, Nicole invites me up to the house for one & after an early flight & that drive out of Melbourne CBD, I’m more than ready! Nicole designed the house herself and you can tell. It is beautiful & practical, stylish but not showy. I won’t say much more about it, but I will tell you that Billy Slater makes a bloody good coffee.

We chat easily and it turns out we have a lot in common. I feel so inspired by our conversation, me at the very beginning of something & Nicole sitting right there next to me, living proof of self-made success.

“Success is a feeling.

I’ve never been a materialistic person. For me, being successful is having a purpose which fulfills my needs & brings me a sense of achievement. My success now gives me so much more than just an income or someone recognising me as a known artist, it’s the feeling it brings that is really rewarding after all this time. It’s really cool to be able to say ‘I’m very content at where I am in my life’. I find that my job doesn’t feel like a job. Even if I wasn’t getting paid I’d still be doing it!”

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NICOLE SLATER SLATER NICOLE

I ask her if there are any achievements in particular that she feels most proud of. “The whole Collection was huge, it was the turning point for me to realise what I’m capable of. Against all odds with lockdown restrictions, I really surprised myself with my skill. I think that gave me the most drive. Then all that energy I put into it led to the opportunity to work with Coolmore Stud & Ferrari, which was amazing. That was such a high point for me in my career. It was the encouragement to keep going that I needed and now looking to the future, I’m off to Dubai. I can’t believe that my job is taking me to Dubai! I have a full schedule. I’m there for the Dubai Cup (horse race) & I’m going to meet with some pretty amazing people. My goal is to paint different horses from all over the world, to paint legendary horses & the horses in people’s memories & dreams.

Horses really pull on our emotions. I find them fascinating. I’ve always been around horses, so I don’t know why I didn’t paint them sooner. They’re my biggest inspiration,

“I just feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.

This is my soul purpose.”

There’s no pretence with Nicole, she’s natural, expressive & incredibly generous. I thank her for her time & for allowing me to visit. I apologise for things taking so long, I feel like I should have moved with more dynamism.

“I really have no idea what I’m doing... I’m just making it up as I go,” I admit. “We all are!” she replies, “All this art only exists because of me. I’ve had some of that linen for 20 years. Good things happen over a long period of time. Don’t be afraid that not everyone is going to like what you do. I’ve always told myself that.

Don’t listen to negative people who are trying to bring you down, listen to the ones who want to lift you up.

I want to be that person for others. There’s a lot of positive energy that comes from me, I like to give energy to people. My friends say I’ve never changed. I pride myself on that. They also say I’m absolutely mad!” she adds with a laugh, “I love adrenaline. I’m good for jumping out of a plane, I’ve done that 3 times.” Like I said, she’s a vibe. EM

Follow Nicole @nicoleroseart for more info about the Stables Collection

nicoleslaterartist.com

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DESTINATION

SUGAR BEACH RANCH Sugar Beach Ranch sits on 60 acres of unspoilt east coast beauty. Endless deserted white sandy beaches, eagles soaring overhead, whales breaching on the doorstep and beautiful native coastal vegetation.

Sugar Beach Ranch was the beloved home of CM Murphy, a music maverick, entrepreneur and visionary. Chris’ life was a colourful journey, being thrust into the music industry at a young age, through to his success in managing INXS to international stardom and beyond, his tenacity and vision unparalleled. Sadly, in January 2021, Chris succumbed to a rare form of cancer and passed away at his beloved Sugar Beach Ranch in South Ballina.

Chris is greatly missed, however, having worked with her father for many years, Chris’s eldest daughter Stevey Arena, has taken the reins as Managing Director for Murphy Petrol Group, and is continuing the legacy of her father’s dreams of the

‘Surfing Cowboys lifestyle’ at Sugar Beach Ranch. Stevey is passionate about breeding quality sports horses and Sugar Beach Ranch is the home to a successful polo pony breeding stud. “Pony Club horses with Ferrari engines!”

There are unique sandy bush trails, endless white sandy beaches where you can glimpse dolphins as you gallop past and excellent facilities to look after horses. The Murphy family are opening up the big white gates of Sugar Beach Ranch for people to bring their horse and share the beauty which Chris often referred to as

‘natures plaground’.

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Image by Kat Rollings

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DESTINATION

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Chris and the family spent hours riding horses on the beach, raced pigeons, wrote books and built a thriving egg farm as they lived their Surfing Cowboys lifestyle.

Book the quaint self-contained beach bungalows that sleep 4 with access to stables or paddocks.

Soak up the peace, privacy and idyllic beach vibes of this secluded island getaway (nearest neighbours 3kms away).

Get back to nature, on horseback. There are bush trails all around the property and only a 50 metre ride to the sugar-white beach though pockets of coastal rainforest & unspoilt sand dunes. You can gallop along the Pacific coastline or meander along at sunset. Both make for dreamy insta stories.

When you get back, refresh with a swim in the 15m heated pool or lounge under the cabana with that book you’ve been wanting to read.

A quick journey across the car ferry will have you in Ballina, Byron Bay or Bangalow within a 30 minute car trip. There are waterfalls and bush walks close by if you feel like venturing further. Then wake up to the songs of native birds & enjoy fresh eggs for breakfast.

Bring your guitar, sketch pad or note book and loll away the hours nurturing your soul in paradise. A holiday for you & your horses.

THE ULTIMATE

HORSE- GIRLS WEEKEND AWAY! To book your next Surfing Cowboys getaway

www.sugarbeachranch.com Drone image by Curtis Cloake//@aerialmedium

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GLOBE-TROTTING

HELEN

‘Katia’

Team Ireland crowned Nations Cup winners. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2022

CRUDEN

UAE SH OWJ U M PI N G 2022

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TOP L-R ‘Golden Nugget’, Grand Prix Sharjah. ‘Katia’, Abu Dhabi, Nations Cup. Z7 Ipswich and Shane Breen, winners of the 5* Abu Dhabi President’s Cup Grand Prix. ‘Special Feeling’, Abu Dhabi, Nations Cup, Grand Prix. Nicola Pohl and Di Caprio, Abu Dhabi, Nations Cup. Double page: Golden Nugget, Sharjah Grand Prix.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

‘Double Clear’, Abu Dhabi, Nations Cup grand prix.

‘Girls patience united’, Al Shira’aa trot-up. ‘Team UAE’.

‘Golden Nugget’, Grand Prix Sharjah winners.

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Golden Nugget, Grand Prix Sharjah Equestrian Club,

Follow Helen @hcruden For more info helencruden.com

FIRST EDITION 2022

ANNIE BOYD

I met Annie at a horse show I was photographing last year. She’s a competitive rider with many National titles under her belt. I remember she was wearing the most amazing sharp-looking cowgirl hat, Bordeaux red, a real stand-out even in a crowd of big hats. My Aunty Penny also competes in Ranch horse events & she introduced us. I was intrigued to learn she owns a custom saddlery & cowboy hattery. I thought this sounded very cool.

I’d never heard of a cowboy hattery before. It sounded very Wild West.

I do love to barter & often trade photos & shoots for things (most commonly Champagne), so when Annie got in touch to buy her show proofs, I saw an opportunity to get a fancy-arse hat of my own! I also thought it might make for a good story so I put this idea to her & asked if she would be interested. When an enthusiastic reply came back, I looked at booking flights & started arranging the trip. This exchange of emails happened on a Monday last June & things were just starting to get a bit crazy with the Covid situation. I decided to hold off on booking for a day or two & by the end of that week, every border between her & I was closed. That remained the case for the rest of the year & my first (ok second if I’m totally honest) self-imposed deadline for this magazine went out the window. Then it was Christmas, Covid, holidays, Covid, back to school, Covid & that brings us forward to around about now. As soon as restriction eased & interstate travel became possible again, I jumped on a flight down to Victoria.

Annlee Saddlery & Cowboy Hattery sits on their family property in Swanpool, a tiny town about 200kms North East of Melbourne. The first thing I noticed upon my arrival were the flags. Our Southern Cross alongside the Stars and Stripes flying proudly at full mast, waving me in through the farm gate. A cactus garden & barbed-wire sculptures set the scene. I knew it was going to be Wild West!

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Polly the Jack Russel came barrelling out of the shop, barking & wagging her little tail followed by two almost identical fluffy tortoiseshell cats. They looked like big kittens, or maybe very small bobcats. At the end of the procession is Annie. She’s smiling & there’s a warmth about her greeting that makes me feel so welcome. What a wonderful place. We wander inside the shop, the animals following one by one.

There’s so much to take in, vintage rodeo posters lining the walls, polished buckles glinting in the sunlight, clusters of colourful beaded jewellery, the smell of leather, rows of hats along the back wall & two cats slinking around our legs. It’s homey.

Her phone starts to ring, she looks & says it’s her vet & that she always answers her phone when the vet calls. Of course!

While she steps out, I take a seat on a bar stool & continue to look around. The cats are jumping up on to shelves & chasing each other behind the counter. Turns out they are brother & sister, Big Meow & Little Meow (named by Annie’s granddaughter). They are so entertaining I have no idea how long she was on that call. When she comes back inside, she installs herself across from me & I ask her to tell me the story of how this all came to be.

Annie’s Mum was a showjumper/eventer & her Dad had harness horses & novelty ponies. They met at Melbourne Royal.

‘My Dad is from Gippsland & Mum is from the Mallee, so two opposite ends of the state,” she explained. “They would never have met other than at a horse show.” Her Dad, Murray, is a saddler by trade but they both did all sorts of different jobs.

Dad sometimes drove trucks & mum, Shirley, picked strawberries. Murray had done a bit of rodeo & Quarter Horses were just starting to be imported & becoming a bit of a ‘thing’ in the 70’s. They bought a first cross mare & then a stud horse that her Mum did a bit of barrel racing with. The next one they bought was well-bred but pretty wild. “They brought him home & put him in a yard & no one could touch him. He was offered food & water from Mum’s hands. It took him a few days, but eventually he gave in & came around. He ended up being an amazing cutting horse & it was a very difficult for them but they sold him so they could build a house. That house over there,” Annie says, pointing out the window.

FIRST EDITION 2022

“When they bought these 40 acres there was not one tree or even a boundary fence. They started from scratch & built everything around them. My parents still live here & will continue to forever.” That made me feel a little teary. What a beautiful symbiosis, our life with horses.

Annie & her parents would go to horse shows & set up a pop-up shop for the saddlery. She would show her horses & then help with the shop in between classes, that was the deal. About 5 years ago when her Dad wanted to retire from the retail side of the shop (he still makes saddles, in fact he’s in his workshop making one right now she tells me) he asked Annie if she’d like to take it on. Even though it meant she would have to ‘be an adult & go to shows & not take a horse,’ she said yes.

Wondering how she could put her own spin on things, she had the idea of doing hats. The problem with hats was, because you can only buy them from America, they get all whacked out of shape in transit, or just don’t fit. She thought maybe if she could buy the hats open (unshaped) they would ship easier & she could shape them herself. She sent an email to Shorty’s Cowboy Hattery in Oklahoma city, who she knew had a really good name in the industry, telling them who she was and what she would like to do. (Which was basically, ‘Can I please come & watch & learn & work for free?’)

“I made the decision to go to America to learn how to shape hats at the end of February. I knew the best time to be there would be for a big reining show which was only a week after the AQHA National show in Tamworth. I finished at Nationals on Friday, hauled the horses home Saturday, drove to Melbourne Sunday night & flew to America on Monday. It all happened that fast, 8 weeks after making that decision, I was on a plane.”

Annie spent 3 weeks working under the guidance of Lavonna ‘Shorty’ Kogar, Master Hat Maker & her team. First stop was the Breeder’s Classic show in Katy, Houston for 5 days where she inadvertently met a lot of famous reiners & world champions who she feels like she should have known but didn’t. “They were all very nice to talk to,’ She recalls. “They all wanted to keep talking so they can listen to your accent, but they didn’t want some ‘random Australian’ shaping their hat. So, I would watch them shaping hats in the booth all day & then I would go to sleep at night & dream about what my fingers were supposed to do.”

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“THEY ALL WANT TO KEEP YOU TALKING SO THEY CAN LISTEN TO YOUR ACCENT, BUT THEY DON’T WANT SOME

‘RANDOM AUSTRALIAN’ SHAPING THEIR HAT.”

FIRST EDITION 2022

“They have an esky & at 5 o’clock every afternoon all the trainers come around & have drinks at Shorty’s booth. It’s very social. When that happens, they all stop working so that’s when I would have a go. I started shaping a hat for myself, then I’d show it to them. They would say tweak a bit here & there, then I’d keep going.

I wore my own hat the next day & this guy came in & said ‘I really like that hat’ so Shorty takes the hat off my head & sells him my hat!”

Annie didn’t know it at the time, but ‘selling the hat off your head’ is commonplace. That really boosted her confidence & she continued shaping hats, wearing & selling them for the rest of the show.

From there Annie went back to Shorty’s shop in Oklahoma & continued progressing her skills before heading off on a roadtrip around Texas to go hat shopping. She went first to the American Hat Company in Bowie & then to Atwood Hat Company in Frankston. Both times, Shorty had rung ahead & told them, ‘There’s this girl from Australia coming, look after her.’ Annie still feels incredibly lucky & blessed that they read the letter, agreed & ‘embraced her wholeheartedly,’ as they have never trained anyone who doesn’t work for them before.

“Paying it forward is a real thing.”

‘Shorty’ herself is a self-taught hat-maker who started shaping hats by using the steam of a hot teakettle at rodeos. I watched a video where she said “it was trial & error & determination. It took me about 10 years to get good at it.” When Shorty opened her custom hattery in 1990, she was the first lady-hatter in the very male-dominated industry. For over 20 years she has built her business, literally, with her own two hands & it

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is now one of the most well-known & respected in the western arena. Shorty’s hats are highly sought-after & worn by pro trainers, competitors, country music stars & cowboys & cowgirls all over the world. Shorty’s is still the only woman-owned & operated custom hattery in the U.S.A. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2021 & is also responsible for starting a charity, Rein In Cancer, in honour of her late sister who sadly lost her battle with the disease. It started with a jar on the counter for donations & has now raised over a million dollars.

Annie returned home & her first small order of hats were shipped in. She then went back to The States again the following year. Having more defined seasons than Australia, Americans have different hats for the change in climate & conditions. Felt hats for the cooler months & straw hats for the hotter ones. Annie learnt on straw hats during the first trip, which is actually a lot harder than felt. She explained, ‘If you get the shape wrong on a felt hat, you can just do it again. If you do that to a straw hat, you don’t get a do-over. If it’s crooked, it’s crooked!’ The second trip she worked more with felt hats.

Beaver fur is used to make these felt hats because of its natural water-resistance. Quality ranges from 7x felt up to 100x felt which Annie says is ‘tough-as & 100% waterproof. You can wear them in the rain & they hold their shape forever.’ Prices vary accordingly & start at under $AU500 for a 7x right up to $US1000. Annie remembers this story particularly well. It was one night back in Houston, which is quite tropical & can be rainy in the summertime, they were leaving a horse show & going to dinner when there was a torrential downpour. “I asked for a box to put my good hat in so it wouldn’t get wet & ruined. Shorty just walked out into the pouring rain, turned around to me & said “it’s Beaver, baby - they live in the water!”

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“My husband has always been very supportive. When I said ‘i think I need to go to America to learn how to do this’ he said ‘Go - do it!’ Then when I had boxes everywhere & had to bring hats out on to the kitchen table to show them to people, he helped me build the shop. He did say at one point,

“Eventually everyone will have a hat, then what are you going to do?

I said, I don’t know, let’s wait and see.

There are a lot of people who need hats!”

And as it turns out, there are. Annie does most of her sales at events & her client base is growing. Apart from western performance, the discipline she herself competes in, Annie attends reining & cutting shows as well as campdrafts with the hats. “I am full-on, flat-out for as long as I’m there. I do 12-hour days wherever I go & I am busy the whole time. People know I often don’t stay for the entire event so when I arrive the people who want a new hat normally come in first so they don’t miss out. The beauty of what I do is I am shaping (the hat) for the person, even if they order it ahead of the show, my favourite way to do it is in-person. The rest of the time I’m cleaning & reshaping. That keeps me going all day.”

I think it’s worth noting that Annie has never advertised her hats & that business is thriving exclusively on word-of-mouth recommendations. “Everyone has embraced it. People say to me now, we didn’t know we needed you until now. And now we really need you!” I totally agree. Later that morning after we’d had a wander around to visit the horses (the dog & cats accompanied us the whole way), Annie fitted & shaped a beautiful Rodeo King felt hat for me which I absolutely love. I have quite a narrow face & fair complexion, so hats have been a bit ‘hitand-miss’ in the past. Having a trained eye to help choose a complementary colour & then customise it for me was a pretty special experience. I’m excited to go back for a straw hat in Spring.

I just don’t think one of Annie’s hats is enough now!

Having been unable to get back to America for the last two years, she’s thrilled to have a trip planned for mid-2022. “It’s been a real journey & I can’t wait to go back. There’s a big event in Las Vegas & we are going to do a road trip along route 66! I’ve been back enough times now that I’m no longer the token Australian. People are happy to let me shape their hats now,” She tells me, smiling broadly, “I’ve been promoted!” Just then, her phone rings, it’s her husband.

“Sometimes I answer when he calls too.” EM

Annlee Saddlery is open by appointment.

You can find all Annie’s contact details on Facebook

@AnnleeSaddleryQuarterHorses

FIRST EDITION 2022

#HORSEGIRLENERGY

BANGALOW EQUINE FIELD HOSPITAL In the last week of February, it just wouldn’t stop raining in Southeast Queensland. Some places saw falls totalling over 400 millimetres in 24 hrs.

Our horses were miserable, standing in relentless rain, bums in the direction of the downpour, heads low, ears flat. We changed their rugs twice a day but they were soaking through in a matter of hours. I wished we had fancy stables to put them in.

On Thursday the 24th, I had my first face to face meeting with a printer on the Gold Coast. I took both the kids with me. We’d almost arrived when it started absolutely pouring again & then discovered the road in was totally flooded. We had no choice but to park & walk the last 150 metres on foot.

By the time we reached the office, we were soaked. I don’t think I’ve ever been outside in rain like that. It was like we’d jumped in a swimming pool, clothes wringing-wet, hair dripping & tangled. A great first impression, I’m sure!

From then it just didn’t stop for days. The intensity of the rainfall was unsettling, ominous. The sun seemed further away. There was no light, no shadows, just greyness that faded to matte black when the night came.

Especially after we lost power. On Saturday we still had internet & phone reception so we knew there had been widespread flooding in our region & the weather system was about to move south to Northern NSW. Tuning into one of Higgins Storm Chasing’s Facebook lives, he warned that a ‘rain bomb’ was likely to drop over the Northern Rivers. That didn’t sound good, it had been relentless already, but we had no idea just how bad it would actually become. I was worrying about my horses standing in their perfectly safe albeit soggy paddock, but just 100kms down the road, something catastrophic was about to happen.

When flood water inundated the region, the towns of Mullumbimby, Lismore, Coraki, South Ballina & Woodburn, their communities were impacted on a scale never before seen or thought to have been possible. Major flood levels dating back decades were exceeded by 2 metres. This would become the most significant flood event in these areas’ recorded history.

There were hundreds of desperate calls for help from people trapped in rising water inside their homes, climbing into roof spaces & onto their roof to escape. What about the old people who lived alone? Or with old pets? Families with little kids? How scared they must they have been? It was heartbreaking. We watched helplessly as a lot of harrowing calls for help came in real-time over Facebook in posts & comments. I’ve got a lot of friends in the area & it was awful when communications went down because there was just no way of knowing what was happening. It was a huge relief to see friends at South Ballina had moved their horses up to the safety of the sand dunes just in time. Other friends in the hills were isolated but safe.

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Many, many others were not so lucky. Thousands of homes & businesses were damaged or destroyed. Someone described it as a ‘demolition’ not a flood. Over the days & weeks that followed, whole communities of people & their animals were left homeless or displaced. Some suffered an even worse fate.

When our internet came back, I saw a friend of mine, Holly Nastasi, had helped set up a field hospital for injured horses with a group of friends. I travelled down to take a care package & see what they needed. It was about 10 days after Jazz Hardy, Krystal Byron, Shae Herwig and Holly had started taking horses at the Bangalow showgrounds. They hadn’t all met before but Jazz had brought them together to help the horses. The girls & I were standing together in their make-shift HQ, a stable in the middle of the block. Horses with every type of bandage in every other stall. Hundreds of horses were lost in the flood water, some were located deceased & identified by brands or halters, but sadly lots are still missing.

“We’ve all been through a flood, but this wasn’t even close to anything

anyone had ever seen.We didn’t think it was going to be like this”.

Krystal told me, “I went out to Coraki & Woodburn in a boat with a friend who’s a vet. We had to put a stick in front of the boat, every time we’d come across fencing, then we’d have to lift the prop up & put it back down again. We went out to help treat animals but everything was either suffering or already dead. There was a horse that had been tied to the door of a house for 3 days. She was on a property at Coraki which bordered the river. There was 15kms of water between her & dry land. There was just no way of getting her out of there.

We ended up mainly just getting coordinates of the animals we found & giving them to other vets so they could come out by boat or helicopter & put them down. We did that for 4 days. It was really sad because the animals that we did find alive were surrounded by dead animals. It was a lot to deal with. I felt really burnt out but then we started this hospital & it was really nice being here because I was helping the horses, not just putting them down.”

When locals started to realise how bad the situation actually was, Jazz knew there would be horses in need of dry stables & wound care so she offered to take on a few herself. When she spoke with her good friend Laura Cheshire, who was working tirelessly to rescue & recover livestock, she realised there were way more than she could manage on her own. She then called Shae & asked her if she could take a few that needed bandaging. “I can, but I don’t have stables & there was more rain coming,” Shae said. “I told her to leave it with me, then I called around & tried to come up with a plan. I saw on Facebook that Bangalow showgrounds could take horses so I called Michael O’Meara & asked him if we could set up a field hospital in the stables. Then I called Holly & we just rallied together, there was only 4 or 5 of us here at that stage. When we agreed to take these horses, we didn’t really have a plan. We kind of just agreed to take them & were told they’d been treated by a vet. We thought we were just coming in to do bandages. The first two horses were from Coraki.

“We had to wash them twice because they were inch-thick in mud, their eyeballs, everything. We didn’t know what colour they were.

It wasn’t until we washed the mud off that we saw their injuries.”

Then two came from the Woodburn bridge. They’d been on the bridge for 6 days. Their owner stayed with them, she slept under a tarp so she could care for them. Her whole house was gone.”

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Shae started the Facebook page, Bangalow Temporary Equine Field Hospital, so people knew how to contact them if they had horses that needed to come into care & also so people had the correct information for donations. Their major cash donations came from friends who knew they were going to do the right thing with the money. Jazz had a friend of her husband give them $1000 to get started. Through posting on the Facebook page people could follow the horses’ journey to recovery, showing them where the money was going.

Jazz’s sister is a vet nurse who once worked for local vet, Dr Megan, who now runs a wildlife hospital. “She asked if Megan would come down & have a look at the horses. She said yes & was excited to work with horses again. She was so great, when more & more horses kept coming in, she got Dr Nikita to come on board also”.

A community of helpers formed, working together with the vets, amazing people who have their own jobs & clinics.

Some were affected themselves, but they put their lives on hold to help.

The most common injuries the horses have presented with are slicing and penetrating injuries from fencing & debris. Dr Lu Fenny, one of the team of vets volunteering on the frontline during the floods, explained. “They were being pushed through & swimming over barbed wire fences. The water was running so fast & there was so much debris in the water, projectiles were flying into them. A lot of horses had bad lacerations & it took up to a week for some of them to receive treatment or reach a clinic situation”. Dr Lu is a holistic vet based on the Gold Coast. She went down to help in Northern NSW with ‘a kayak, a jetski, 2 4WD’s, 3 volunteers & a van full of medical supplies to deliver to farms with sick & injured animals. She has also been helping the girls with the horses at Bangalow.

“Lots of horses came into the clinic with infections & cellulitis from standing in contaminated water. Because so many horses had open wounds in the flood water, they are also at risk of developing swamp cancer which is a fungal infection that spreads rapidly through their bodies. We’ve had some horses that we spent a week getting through their initial injuries that we still had to end up euthanising because they developed swamp cancer, which is just devastating. Open wounds can get infected very quickly, especially in this weather as bacteria & yeast thrive in humidity. We’ve been doing a lot of blood test screening & being extra-vigilant with any wounds until they are healed.

“These horses are also all are at risk of developing colic & laminitis because they’ve all been so traumatised.

When they went into the water some swam for more than 12 hours, overnight, in the dark. Horses can swim but it’s not particularly natural for them. They would have been terrified & exhausted. Horses are very emotional beings. They’re a herd animal & the ones that survived… a lot of the horses around them simply drowned.

One of the ladies I spoke to could hear her horses drowning & there was nothing they could do. They lost 18 horses in one night.”

“It was a terrifying few days for them.

It takes a long time to process that trauma.”

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Animals that have been traumatised, their immune systems are weak. High stress means weak immune systems so they’re more likely to get infections, a lot of the time the trauma & stress can slow down their gut stasis which can then lead to colic. A horse under stress plus rotting wet hooves, they’re going to be at risk of laminitis. All these things mean that even though these horses are stable right now, we have to be vigilant doing TPR (temperature pulse respiration) checks twice a day because any of them can go downhill pretty quickly.”

It’s quiet & peaceful here, most of the horses stick their nose out as you walk past, hoping for a pat or a carrot.

This place the girls have created is definitely the calm after the storm. It’s amazing what horse women can do when they are faced with a crisis. We sometimes hear negative comments about the horse-world being bitchy or elitist, but if I ever hear that again I’m going to remember these girl’s, their sobs, their smiles, the mud on their boots, the stories they’re carrying & most of all what they did for these horses. Their absolute love & dedication to horses. For me, the term ‘Horse Girl Energy’ kind of encompass all those amazing characterists & skills that we develop through our interactions with horses & I think this is one of the best displays of it I’ve seen in action. Never underestimate a horse girls ability & willingness to show up & get shit done. We might have nice nails but we don’t mind getting our hands dirty.

Horse Girl Energy is more than an instagram hashtag, these girls are living proof of it.

There are about 13 horses here at the moment, one is lying down. She’s not doing so well. ‘Winny’ is off to a vet clinic tomorrow for x-rays & some more specialist care. They suspect she may have a septic knee. I asked if this is the worst case they’ve had come in. “No, we had a little taffy pony come in with pneumonia, Finn, he was probably the sickest one we’ve seen,” Jazz says. “A family in Woodburn had to evacuate so they put all their animals in the house thinking they would be safe. The flood water rose in the house & sadly all the other animals drowned. But the pony climbed up onto the kitchen table & stood holding his little nose out of the water for two days. He was so cold because he couldn’t move & had also ingested water which was very contaminated. He isn’t out of the woods yet but every day he survives is one day longer for him to have a chance.” Finn is in the care of Dr Rhian at the Gold Coast Equine Clinic & the girls are really hoping he will make a full recovery so he can be returned to his owners who have lost so much. My sincere condolences go out to everyone affected by these floods. Please continue to support these communities by donating to grass-roots fundraising efforts & reputable appeals. This is far from over. EM

Sadly just before going to print, little Finny lost his battle.

He fought til the end.

The team from banglow would like to thank the following people & businesses for their support Dr Nikita Stibbard - Richmond River Equine Venterinary Services Dr Megan Kearny - Vitality Vetcare Dr Rhian Partridge - Gold Coast Equine Clinic Local produce store - Newrybah Produce & Stockfeed & North Coast Stockfeeds Kristen Bates-Taunton 68

Sister run lable, Jericho Road Clothing have designed their

‘Outback Skies’

collection to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service.

100% of the profits will be donated dircetly to the RFDS.

Find them here:

www.jerichoroadclothing.com.au

FIRST EDITION 2022

A Girl in the Gulf

Rosie Alexander is 6th generation to the Blackall area. Home is a ‘small’ property 90km SW of Blackall, ‘Warringah’, where she lives with her Dad, Bruce, Mum, Lisa & brother, Will, 21. They run merino sheep, and cattle when the season allows, on 23000 acres.

Rosie was born with a passion for horses. At 18 months old she attended her first Pony Club rally day. Mum took a polocrosse mare for her to ‘sit on’ so she didn’t have to carry her around all day. Rosie sat on that horse from 9am in the morning until 4pm in the afternoon... and even then had to be lifted off with the saddle!

Now 20; she’s still in the saddle all day, everyday & living her passion as a stationhand in the Gulf Country.

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“I have been working as a station hand for the last 2 and a half years on a property 80kms out of Cloncurry in the Southern Gulf region of QLD. It spreads across 214,270 hectares, where our main production line is Angus bulls over Brahman cows.

It seemed a bit daunting, as a 17 year old girl finishing school and going into a job at a place I had never been before! But under the guidance of some very talented people who had the willingness to teach, it became a breeze.

“Most would believe that the cattle industry is dominated by men, however numbers are quite even, in fact there are probably more women.”

During my time in The Gulf I’ve not only met some of these amazing women, but have also had the privilege of working beside them and made some good friends.This job isn’t for the faint- hearted. Days are long, hot and sometimes quite physically demanding. There’s usually five people in a crew, plus the headstockman throughout the year.

Horses play a big role when working cattle, holding the lead & cutting cattle out. They help us work cattle during the week then we take them campdrafting on the weekends. I am fortunate enough to have a number of my own horses with me throughout the year. Currently, I have three of my own horses, two mares, one is starting her futurity year campdrafting this year, as well as a younger gelding that I bought and started 18 months ago. I like to be able to rotate my personal horses throughout the year, sending them home to Blackall to spell for a couple of months, while another will be brought into work. I mostly use station-owned horses for mustering and stock work, although occasionally I will take one of my young horses out too.

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Within the Company, there are resident stallions and broodmares whose offspring are retained as work horses. Each ringer on our station has 2 or 3 horses to ride through the season. Horses are used alongside motorbikes and helicopters to muster cattle. These horses carry some of the top cow horse bloodlines including One Roan Peptos, Acres Destiny, Mentor & Playrio to name a few, making them ideal for the job at hand. It is these intelligent, cowy bloodlines that allow the horses to enjoy their job as much as we do. The aim of the breeding program is to get

a horse that everyone can ride with the talent and athleticism

to win drafts.

You can find them tailing weaners, mustering or cutting out cattle on the weekdays, then having a go at campdrafting on the weekends.

The atmosphere of campdrafting in far north Qld is second to none. It is such a well respected and popular sport up here, the attendance is always high.

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“The health and wellbeing of our horses is taken very seriously as they not only

play an integral role in our work, they are also our best mates.”

The station I work on tries to attend most drafts within a 300-400km radius, usually with a full truck load of 12 horses, although sometimes for the more popular drafts we take up to 25-30 horses. It’s a great environment for those who are new to the sport, or riding, and just want give it a crack.”

“Growing up with horses and quite literally riding before i could walk, it’s like a dream

being able to ride horses for work.”

Special thanks to Lisa Alexander (Rosie’s mum) for these incredible photographs. Lisa also turned her passion into her career & is a professional photographer caputuring the industry, lifestyle & people of Outback Australia.

Follow Lisa on Facebook & Instagram

@lisa_alexander_photography

www.lisaalexanderphotography.com.au

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Image by Lisa Alexander

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image by Lisa Alexander

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T HE CA M PD RA F T C OACH MEAGAN HOPKINS

For ethical riding and training practices to become common knowledge and standard practice, for the good of the horse, the rider and the future of campdrafting.

The Campdraft Coach - Mission Statement

They say for a business to be truly successful, there has to be a purpose greater then profits alone. There has to be a grand vision, a goal to make a meaningful impact on the world. And this is mine.

I am not sure how all the motivation needed for a life and business can be reduced to a single sentence. But there it is. When my immediate path is unclear and I feel overwhelmed with everything it takes to boil down one’s entire experience into a series of teachable lessons, all I have to do is look up. Like a lighthouse in the distance, my direction is clear and I can continue to faithfully place one foot in front of the other, not able to see the mercifully fogged path, but sure of the destination.

The Campdraft Coach is a fledgling business that I started this year, as a marriage of all my biggest desires. I am a stay-at-home mum to a glorious threeyear-old whose uninhibited love for all kinds of things inspires me every day. He loves princesses and flowers, his tree swing and collecting insects. He is deeply intrigued by other children and delights in their delight. I hope this world never dulls his passion for the things he loves. I am soaking up these few precious years I have with my son at home before school starts. I am grateful to be in a situation that I can have this time with him. That said, Mumma still has a desire for some extra cash to help her out of her equine-induced poverty so she can get these greys covered up guilt free. I founded The Campdraft Coach, so I can help riders on their campdrafting journeys by sharing my experience, while not sacrificing time with my son.

How does a vision statement hold such power? Lemme break mine down. I would define ‘ethical riding and training practices’ as ones, that at the very minimum, do no harm to the horse, mentally, physically or emotionally but, furthermore, should promote wellbeing in these three areas. Not only does this sound like a

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noble endeavour, but there are countless practical benefits too (for the good of the horse and the rider). Behavioural issues, performance problems, limited progress, chronic pain and career ending injuries are all potential effects of unhealthy training. These are incredibly frustrating and expensive for a rider to have to deal with, often without knowing why they are happening. On the other hand, health centred training will help a rider truly understand what is going on with their horse so they are able to successfully progress, maintain soundness and make it the fulfilling and rewarding experience they hoped it would be.

What excites me the most about this training ethos, is that although it is certainly equally beneficial for a rider who is wishing to enjoy their horse for recreation or low-level competition, for me, it is absolutely key to achieving the highest possible competitive performance. When you can nurture a horse to know his job and like doing it, there is no better, more reliable or longer lasting competition partner.

As Xenophon said, “for what the horse does under compulsion he does blindly, and his performance is no more beautiful than would be that of a ballet dancer taught by whip and spurs.” I think there is an unconscious divide in peoples minds that separates training methods that have the horse’s best interest in mind and top sport performance. And somewhat rightly so, I suppose. Think ‘horse friendly’ and most people would think ‘natural horsemanship’, a movement not marketed to improve competitive performance, and there isn’t much else out there that isn’t performance focused. I have found that having a focus on health and wellbeing is the only way to be able to have high performance that is sustainable.

Riders are not deliberately choosing to ride their horses in a damaging way, but unfortunately, it is just what we are exposed to.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

I see so many riders severely limited in their journeys by the lack of good information available to them.

Like a swimmer in the surf, desperately struggling against a rip, so are riders fighting their horse’s true nature. I know this, because I’ve been there. A hot mess of tears and sweat because my horse was being lazy and deliberately difficult- or so I thought. I used draw reins to get their heads down, thin bits to soften them up and drilled exercises with the only plausible excuse as to why they were not working being that the horse was simply ‘not trying’. Without being able to acknowledge there was something off with what the horse knew (mental) what they were able to do (physical) or how they felt about it (emotional), I was not able to identify the actual problem, and therefore unable find an effective solution. Needless to say, the more I have learnt the less ‘obstinate’ my horse’s have become. *wink emoji* It has taken me 15 years of dedicated learning to uncover the kind of information that should be immediately and easily available to people when they are new to riding or new to the sport. This is what I want to change.

Riders shouldn’t have to go on a soul-searching journey to be able to learn the basics. Of course, people are free to choose what they feel is right or wrong for their horse, but to at least be aware of what mental, physical and emotional effects different postures, exercises and techniques are having on their horse is essential so they can make informed decisions.

And lastly, in a world where a single image or video can bring an entire industry under scrutiny,

it is important for all horse sports to be placing emphasis on animal welfare, and to be seen to be riding and training in a humane way. This is key to the

survival of the sports we love.

Phew. That was a long way of saying that with the right information and techniques, riders are able to make more informed decisions with how they are riding and training their horses so that they can avoid the frustrations of stagnated progress, costly pain management, and poor performance.. and it’s a way better deal for the horse too. So, yeah, I think it’s pretty cool stuff and that it should be easily accessible for all riders.

Image courtesy of Jo Thieme

Harmful riding and attitudes are so standard, that they are assumed to be correct and effective.

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FIRST EDITION 2022

RIDERS

Dream Team

DAN I H E SS & JAMES F ER R I E R

Q How did you start riding?

DANI

Both of us were relatively late to getting into horses; I think my first few times in the saddle were holiday trail rides which were very much a special occasion. We lived my whole childhood in inner city Brisbane, so the chances of finding somewhere close enough to convince my parents to let me start riding lessons was pretty low. Every school holiday I’d go to a horse camp, which gradually in my middle school school years became weekly kids club at a trail riding facility called ‘Slickers’ about an hour away. Some of the most memorable rides of my life were here. We’d trail ride for hours on end, play games on horseback like red rover, swim bareback in the dam and jump anything we possibly could. By no means was it the classical way to learn how to ride but it gave me a whole lot of confidence early on.

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JAMES

For me it all started when my younger sisters began riding lessons at a local riding school.

This quickly progressed to acquiring an ex-riding school horse through a friend and keeping him in a paddock down the road. For the first few months we had no tack so we would ride bareback and in a halter, taking turns to trot up and down the paddock. At some stage my parents decided we needed more than one horse so that they could accompany us on trail rides. The herd quickly went from one horse to four or five. We spent a lot of time galloping around Mt Coot-tha, terrorizing dog walkers and cyclists on the fire trails and would often ride from Bardon over the mountain to Brookfield Pony Club for a muster. Eventually we moved to Samford Pony Club as they ran a muster each fortnight and we only had a two horse float at this point so it meant us four kids could alternate going.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

Q When did your love of eventing begin?

DANI

At age 14 I still wanted my own horse, so we leased a thoroughbred, Reggie who we agisted at Hendra pony club. He definitely gave me persistence, Reggie, he was by no means a school master. He’d regularly turn me into a lawn dart when we first started to jump. Over time I started to go to cross country clinics and realised he loved cross country. Our dressage was far from tidy and there was a high chance I would get eliminated in the show jumping but he was so much fun to gallop on cross country. Reggie is still with me happily retired at age 27, he keeps all our young horses in line. I’m forever grateful for that horse. I then had a few other horses into my early 20’s that I did a bit of everything with. It was only when I started working at Belcam Stud I really started to get into eventing. During my time at Belcam, my now current horse Jack started proving he was honest enough to get me to the higher grades.

I still think my time riding on different terrain trail riding definitely had an impact on my love for the sport.

JAMES I think I was quite lucky in that Samford Pony Club had quite a good XC course at the time

which meant we got to occasionally use it at Pony Club musters. I had a Standardbred that I used to fall off a lot and at some point my parents realised that having regular dressage lessons might help me stay on and jump safely so we enlisted the help of a local dressage coach. We did the whole Pony Club thing until I was about 15 and then moved across to the Interschool world which significantly improved my riding as the school my sisters were at had a really good equestrian program which I was lucky enough to be included in.

I was about 18 when I decided that eventing was my thing and after a year at Uni went off and worked for a professional event rider in Sydney for about 18 months.

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RIDERS

Q Did you meet through the sport?

DANI

We both sort of knew each other from pony club years and had the occasional chat in warm ups at events. But the way we became acquainted with each other was through Stella (Kenlock Super Style). I came back from working for Belcam and was working full time for a dressage rider in Samford. James would work my days off and do some of the maintenance, slashing etc.

JAMES

One day she bailed me up asking if I’d take the hobbles off Stella while she got on so she wouldn’t buck her off.

DANI

I had bitten off way more than I could chew, I bought my dream horse, knowing I needed to fix some issues. Over time we would just help each other with horses; Samford has a pretty small eventing community so it was nice to be able to ride with someone else. We realised we had a lot in common away from the horses also.

Stella is one of my main horses now; I think without Stella we probably wouldn’t have met.

Q How did you guys end up at ‘Bunya Springs’?

DANI

The last two years have really felt like a blur for us both; I was in a pretty average horse rental property. The paddocks were barren, fences were falling down… everything felt like it was being held together by baling twine in both the literal and metaphorical way. I remember seeing the ad come up for our now property (Bunya Springs) and tagging my father with the words ‘ a girl can dream’. He called me about 5 minutes later asking me to put a business proposal together. Honestly, to this day I’m still shocked we somehow convinced my non-horsey parents to back us in buying this property. Extremely fortunate doesn’t even cover what my parents did for us. They might not know how to ‘horse’ but they’re in our corner when we need it most.

JAMES

We basically started from scratch with the property, which made it in some ways easier to plan how we wanted the property to function. So far we’ve done the fencing and sheds primarily ourselves, plus earth works and our arena being built. Coming into the off season of competitions we plan to use the time to build more shelters for client horses and finish off our cross country schooling paddock.

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Q What’s an average day look like for you both?

JAMES Generally, we start the morning with working our own and client horses, which is roughly 10 horses between us. That normally takes us most of the morning. If we have any time left we try to do a bit of property maintenance before Dani starts coaching and I head off to ride for a few offsite clients. The majority of my work is training client horses both here and offsite. I’m also keeping up a bit of contract landscape architect work just so I’m not solely doing the horses. Especially with COVID and weather putting us out, it’s meant we don’t just have a horse related income.

DANI

“It’s nice to have some time together on the arena in the mornings.

We share a lot of the same training methods

so it’s good to have someone able to give input into how a horse is going.”

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RIDERS

Q Looking back on this year and into the future, what’s next?

DANI

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster; not only did Covid put a stop to my rider ambitions for the year, I also had a nasty fall resulting in a broken wrist which affected me more mentally than physically. The break did however, give me time to focus on building our equestrian business further. I realised how much I love coaching even if I couldn’t ride.

Heading into 2022 I’m just focusing on bringing on a new team of young horses throughout the off season.

I’m pretty excited about them competing next year. They’re all very different types but all have this incredible work ethic.

“If I had to pick one particular attribute I look for in an eventer, it’s that!

It shouldn’t be hard work,

they should love it as much as I do.”

I’m also planning on doing more clinics before the season starts; then it’s time to hit the ground running with competitions. I’d love to have a few runs at 3* with Jack (Quizzin Jack) and try to get interstate with our whole team as much as possible.

JAMES For me it has really been a year of transitioning from a full-time office job back to riding full time, which has been somewhat challenging as it hasn’t been much of a season for the upper-level horses. We had quite a few sale horses between us this year that we took out instead and which we look forward to continuing next year as we have some nice horses and great owners. Hopefully we can aim for the bigger interstate events next year. I’d love to run Enzo (Sidestep) in a few 4* long formats and look ahead to a 5* start in 2023.

Dani has got a lot of young horses for next year so i guess I should catch up before I don’t have any space left on the truck! EM Dani & James run their equestrian buisness from their property ‘Bunya Spings”, Kobble Creek, Qld. They are both passionate about retraining & repurposing retired racehorses. Follow them at @bunyaspringsequestrian for all results, sale horses, training & lesson info.

Massive thanks to Serena Noon for allowing us to do this shoot at her boutique equestrian facility, Aethereal.

@Aethereal on Facebook for upcoming clinics & hire info 84

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WEBSITES

FIRST EDITION 2022

BEHIND THE BRAND

K ATI E Q U I GLEY//EQ U I PAD

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Like so many of us, Katie has been obsessed with horses from a young age, despite not growing up around them. She says it was, and still is, ‘An indescribable love that I can’t fully explain to this day.’ (We can relate!)

She firmly believes it was in her genes. ‘My dad used to event retired racehorses back in New Zealand. I think I begged for a horse every Christmas & every birthday from the age of 6! It’s all I wanted.’ At the age of 12, as luck would have it, she discovered an old paint mare had been left in a neighbouring paddock. ‘Patches’ was half-blind & not able to be ridden anymore, but Katie jumped at the opportunity to care for her. That old mare satisfied her longing for a horse to love & also proved her dedication to her parents who then agreed to regular riding lessons. She committed to 3 horse-free years while she started her business & recently acquired a riding horse of her own, an incredibly statuesque Friesian gelding named Marcello. ‘Sometimes I forget how special he is until I show someone a photo of him & they go, ‘Oh my God!’ And I’m like, Oh yeah, that’s right ... He is pretty amazing!’ She’s been back in the saddle since last year & is a member of a local riding club. ‘I used to compete in show jumping when I was younger. I love to jump.

“When you’re young you compete because you want to win, but now I’m older, I just want to be a better rider.”

For now, she’s happy having lessons. ‘I’m doing a little bit of dressage & fixing myself. I want to be able to watch a video & think, yes, your position look so good! My ultimate goal would be to have the photographer at a dressage day get a really cute photo of us (omg same)… but If we end up just trail riding for the year, I don’t care. He just takes such good care of me.’

Katie knew from the time she was a teen that she wanted to start her own business one day & loved the concept of design. She found herself always sketching ideas for a women’s clothing brand but wasn’t 100% convinced until one day her partner said, ‘Why don’t you create horse things, like those pads you’ve got heaps of?!” That’s where her equestrian brand ‘Equipad’ began. Clearly it felt right & she hasn’t stopped creating ‘horse things’ since.

Katie taught herself how to use design software & developed all her signature products from scratch.

She then travelled overseas to find the best factories ‘with quality, worker-welfare & innovation’ being her top priorities. It took Katie 3 years of ‘working tirelessly’ to create her collection & just as her much-anticipated stock arrived, so did Covid.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

“My husband has always been very supportive. When I said ‘i think I need to go to America to learn how to do this’ he said ‘Go - do it!’ Then when I had boxes everywhere & had to bring hats out ontiming to the kitchen table to show them to people, he helped me It was indeed calamitous when her long-awaitbuild the shop.

He did say at one point, “Eventually everyone will ed stock arrived amid lockdowns & tight restrictions have hat,2then what arewere you going to do? I said, I don’t know, on gatherings (at the timea only non-residents let’s wait and see.

There are a lot of people who need hats!” And permitted on private properties). There had been no it turns there are. shoots Annie does most of her sales at events & other choice but to as delay all theout, planned photo her client base is growing.

Apart from western performance, the & subsequently Equipad’s first collection of technidiscipline she herself competes cal rider & horse wear was launched at the end of in, Annie attends reining & cutting shows as well as campdrafts with the hats. “I am full-on, flat-out 2020. Katie admits it was a scary time for her having for as long I’mcertainly there. Iworth do 12-hour days wherever I go & I am made such a big investment but itaswas busy the whole time.

People know I often don’t stay for the entire the wait. ‘When you start out in business you secevent so when I arrive who want a new hat normally ond-guess everything but when it works, you the startpeople to come in first so they don’t miss out.

The beauty of what I do is I realise people like the same things that you like. Over shaping (thepoint hat)where for thenow person, even if they order it ahead of time, your self-trustam develops to the the show, my favourite way to do it is in-person. The rest of the I think even if something doesn’t go to plan, I’ll still know what to do.’ time I’m cleaning & reshaping. That keeps me going all day.”

At just 24, it’s hard not to be impressed by how she has navigated the risk & opportunity of starting a business in these wildly uncertain times. Happy-go-lucky, affable & unassuming, we chatted easily about our horses & other interests. When the topic of conversation changes to business, she is innately astute & eloquent.

Katie is, without doubt, a natural-born entrepreneur.

“Equipad isn’t a fast-fashion brand, nor are we a high-fashion brand. We’re not here to follow trends.

We’re here to create rider & horse wear for everyday equestrians who want to feel good in the clothes they wear & about the accessories they put on their horses.”

With this ethos in mind, Equipad’s tagline

‘Real wear for real riders’ is spot on.

Image by Ashley Grant - The Blachat

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Image top & right by Ashley Grant - The Blachat

FIRST EDITION 2022

BEHIND THE BRAND Something else that makes us feel good is Equipad’s eco-rider base layers. The material is made in a performance-specialised fabric factory in Italy by recycling marine waste, mainly fishing nets. When Katie realised no other equestrian brand was utilising recycled materials, she felt inspired to make a change.

She then discovered Healthy Seas, an organisation which was founded in 2013 & has since removed & recycled over 773 tonnes of litter from the ocean.

With the help of volunteer divers, fishermen & farmers, their mission is to counteract ‘ghost fishing,’ a malpractice which negatively impacts marine life & ecosystems, by both collecting & preventing waste.

The nylon from these nets is regenerated into a fabric that Katie says is ‘As soft on the skin as it is on the earth.’ The recycled range is for riders who want to be part of that sea change.

“We want to do better for you,

yo u r h o r s e , t h e wo r l d & o u r f u t u r e .”

And what does the future look like for Equipad? Katie says she’s excited to be expanding the product range & as well as the team this year. She’s looking forward to competitions & events being back on the calendar so she can get out in the community more, do a few pop-up stalls & trade shows. She plans to be at Equitana. “We have pretty big goals this year. If we can grow again as much as we have over the last year, I think that will be a pretty good place to be.” The brand is definitely ‘trending’ with nearly 100,000 active & engaged followers across their socials. Katie believes if you want your business to succeed, you have to truly love & be passionate about it. “It’s like having a good coach who genuinely cares, you have to be that good coach,” she said. EM

“When you love something, it’s easy for other people to love it too.

It’s been a dream come true.”

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“My husband has always been very supportive. When I said ‘i think I need to go to America to learn how to do this’ he said ‘Go - do it!’ Then when I had boxes everywhere & had to bring hats out on to the kitchen table to show them to people, he helped me build the shop. He did say at one point, “Eventually everyone will have a hat, then what are you going to do? I said, I don’t know, let’s wait and see. There are a lot of people who need hats!” And as it turns out, there are. Annie does most of her sales at events & her client base is growing. Apart from western performance, the discipline she herself competes in, Annie attends reining & cutting shows as well as campdrafts with the hats. “I am full-on, flat-out for as long as I’m there. I do 12-hour days wherever I go & I am busy the whole time. People know I often don’t stay for the entire event so when I arrive the people who want a new hat normally come in first so they don’t miss out. The beauty of what I do is I am shaping (the hat) for the person, even if they order it ahead of the show, my favourite way to do it is in-person. The rest of the time I’m cleaning & reshaping. That keeps me going all day.”

F 22 F II RR SSTT EE DDIITT II OONN2 20 0 22

DANIELL E SHEA RER

A Cinderella Story Danielle didn’t want any more horses & she definitely wasn’t looking for one when a friend told her about some young warmbloods for sale down the road. Maybe she should just have a quick look, you know, in case she knew anyone who was looking? (We all know how that goes... ) They were all lovely horses, immaculate & well-bred carrying the lines of Carbine, Aachimedes & Graf Landau to name a few. “Don’t show me any Carbines!” She’d stated emphatically. “I don’t want to see them, I’m not interested in any Carbines.” Why? “They can be tricky & difficult”. As they were leaving, the breeder asked if she was sure Danielle didn’t want to have a look at the 4 year olds, both by Carbine. “Oh for Gods sake, ok, I might know someone..” They were shiny, jet-black. Danielle chased them away to see how they moved. The gelding took off down the paddock, but the filly only went about 10 metres before she turned around & marched back as if to say, ‘Who do you think you are?!’ Danielle laughed and shooed her off again, except this time she just circled in a passage-y trot before coming back to her again. The filly seemed to be saying ‘I think I like you,’ and Danielle was thinking, ‘Oh no.. I really like you too!’ A black carbine mare. But what could she do? “She basically said to me, you will be my rider. So that’s how I acquired her. Well, she acquired me, as I like to say. I paid $2000 for her. It was an absolute bargain.”

That filly was Riverview Cinderella… And so the conversation began.

For the next few weeks, rides went pretty much the same as the first one. Sinner demonstrating her incredible athletic ability & Danielle her tenacity in return. Feeling somewhat out of her depth, she rang her friend David Perkins, who is also a horse breaker & said “I’ve got one here I’m going to send out to you and if she won’t go, if she’s going to be this naughty, don’t even ring me, just put her out in a back paddock,” he said, “But it’s a really well bred mare..?” to which she replied, “Oh no; you don’t breed from something like that!” About a week later he did call her to say he thought she probably wasn’t only good “I thought, oh don’t be silly! So I brought her home for the back paddock, so come & have a ride. When and I soon discovered what he meant! I got on & Sin- that went well, she got to come home, and went to a ner walked so slow she was almost in reverse, the competition the next day. more you kicked her the slower she went.

Having never been out of her paddock before, she took a little convincing to get on the truck. 4 hours in fact. “Actually, it took us a little while to even get her through the gate. I did think at that point maybe this was a silly idea!” Danielle laughs. ‘Sinner,’ as she was affectionately called, was sent to Anthony Murray to be started under saddle. When she went to pick the mare up, he said, “Umm, she hasn’t broken in very well...” Danielle asked what he meant, after all, this was her new dressage horse! He said, “She’s naughty.

I don’t think she’s going to like being ridden much.”

“When I said, ‘that’s enough – get going’,

she bucked me off into the hedge.”

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“I took her to PRARG in a white PVC martingale & bridle, she looked like a racehorse. She looked ridiculous,” Danielle laughs again, remembering her first outing with Sinner. She took her in to do the test, A enter, X halt, C track right. The horse’s head turned right but her body kept going. They left the arena & ended up next to the C judge. Danielle apologised & asked if she could go back to try again. The Judge was laughing & replied “Yes, she’s pretty impressive; I’d like to see how it goes.” So she was eliminated from the test but she was still scored, receiving a 68% which, back then, was unusually high.

“Then there were the ups and downs,” Danielle explains, “We learnt to manage her.” She was always really good in the ring, but not so good in the warmup.

Danielle developed a technique to get Sinner into the warm-up area they called ‘the sling-shot.’

“I would get on, if she let me and my friend Amanda would lead me towards the warm-up, and then she would starting running & get the horse trotting. As I got some momentum she would unclip me & I’d hope that we would accelerate. If she kept going she was less likely to buck”. She terrorised a few warmups; if a horse came too close, she would try to kick them. “She’s bucked me off in numerous warm-ups.

She’s given me a few concussions & kicked me in the chest when I was driving her. I say there’s a line; sometimes she’s crossed it, sometimes I’ve crossed it, but we learnt over time how not to cross it.”

I think it’s widely accepted that when training a horse, things always get a bit worse before they get better. And that the training scale is by no means a straight-line. Instead of being good in the arena & not in the warm-up, Sinner got arena-smart. “When she didn’t like something or felt a bit claustrophobic in a movement, she would rear. It was terrifying to go into a test because sometimes she would just drop the bit. I make no secret of the fact she has scared me.

There were days even training at home where I would cross myself & pray before I got on.

She’s the first horse I’ve taken to Grand Prix. She wasn’t forgiving if I made a mistake or was nervous but I just loved her so much & knew how much potential she had.” Because she had been so good as a young horse, Danielle knew she could find a way forward with her. They tried pushing her through & then going back to basics, but nothing seemed to work.

The horse was a floaty mover in the trot, so the passage was very easy for her. The piaffe came a little less naturally but Danielle said they always knew she had ability to make it to the Grand Prix. She took two levels a year as a 4, 5 & 6 year old. She was always nominated for an award at Horse of the Year.

First Newcomer, then Novice & Elementary.

She went up the levels every year with ease so by the time Sinner was a 6 rising 7 year old, she was already doing the Prix St George movements & was ready to do a start at that level. “We went all the way to FEI Medium tour & were so close to the Grand Prix, but that’s when things starting going backwards at a rate of knots”.

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HORSES

At a competition at QSEC in 2015, when she once again had to raise her hand & retire from the test after Sinner replaced some of the harder movements with a few flamboyant favourites of her own, Danielle left the arena at an all-time low. She knew a horse that misbehaves regularly wasn’t something judges wanted to see; they assume things are falling apart in the training. However she didn’t feel like that was true with this horse, Sinner wanted to dance, but not with an audience and not to music either (after getting a fright when a speaker malfunctioned). The last 3 years had been hard & Danielle felt like giving up when a chance meeting with a coach visiting from overseas turned things around. She took the mare to him & he rode her around the first day. Everyone was oohing & ahhing. She was foot perfect. But the following day, she’d worked him out. Every time he asked anything of her, she just said no. He rode back over to Danielle & said, “Ah, you have a real problem!” He asked her to get back on Sinner. Thinking ‘Oh great, after you’ve ticked her off?’ When she went to jack-up, he said, ‘give her a tap with the whip’. The mare took off, offended, around the arena, Danielle swears she saw smoke & flames, but he made her ride an Inter II test (at speed) & that lesson was the turning point for #teamsin.

They were back on track for the Grand Prix – fast!

Image by Ozshotz

Everything was going great when on a trip to Sydney the mare slipped twice on some concrete. Fearing she’d broken her leg, it was a relief when it turned out to be a torn tendon. Sinner had 4 months off to recover & was cleared by the vet to start work again. They decided Danielle would start to scale back from riding her & they would see if her daughter, Felicity could ride her. It was a bit nerve-wracking for Danielle when she first put her daughter on the mare, she just let her know if the young rider got it wrong or was rude to her. They just started to compete together, achieving some amazing score in the Small Tour before covid hit & put a stop to competitions. When the Brisbane CDI looked likely to go ahead, training was going well but a routine vet check revealed her fetlocks were degenerating. While it would have been possible to continue, Danielle didn’t want to risk any further injury which may have jeopardised her longevity. ‘As soon as he mentioned the possibility of losing her, I said that’s it, she can retire, she doesn’t owe me anything. She’s been a great horse. She’s still sound but she’s done more than enough. Flick could pull her out of the paddock now & go & do a small tour on her, but I won’t risk it. I just love her & she doesn’t need to prove anything. As long as that horse is here for me to pat, that’s all that matters. She’s 17, and next year will be put in foal to the stallion Johhny Be Good. I wondered through all the years of training Sinner, what the horse had taught her?

Felicity & Sinner, 2019 National IQ Small Tour Champions

“Patience & manners, along with all the tricks.

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She taught me to ask.

R ID ERS

E A MG AG E Q U EESQTURE SI ET R NINE N E NM AAZZI INN EE

The rider I am now is not the rider I was 20 years ago;

S he mad e m e a more e m pat h etic rid e r”.

Some of Sinners notable awards & titles : 2010 Finalist Elementary Horse of the Year. 2011 finalist Medium Horse of the Year. 2012 Finalist Advanced Horse of the Year. 2012 National Futures Squad. 2012 Prix St Georges Challenge Final. 2013 Finalist Small Tour Horse of the Year, Qld Bred Faulkeneer Horse of the Year, Finalist Big Tour Horse of the Year. 2020 Brisbane CDI Big Tour Tournament Champion (Pictured) Danielle started riding as a child. Her mum, Rhonda, would take her to Marcel’s School of Riding on Saturday mornings for a group lesson. “My family weren’t very interested in me riding, I’d been swimming from the time I was a baby. My brother & I were at the AIS. We were very good swimmers. When we moved from Canberra to the Gold Coast, I promised my parents I would keep swimming if they bought me a horse. I ended up with a naughty bay that would drop me every ride. I was so scared of him but I knew if I told my parents, I’d never get another horse. I know they would have happily let me quit riding when I was a teenager & I would have never seen a horse again. Luckily he did get better & I ended up winning a lot with him.

I did show jumping & started eventing. Then I bought an ex-racehorse & decided I wanted to do dressage & train a horse to Grand Prix. I didn’t have a great position for dressage, I’d done a lot of show jumping & also worked as a trackwork rider”.

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FIRST EDITION 2022

HORSES

While Cinderella’s shoes are hard to fill; Danielle has recently bought an exciting new horse, a 9 year old chestnut gelding ‘Royal Moment’ or ‘Thomas.’ “He’s totally different & the wrong colour!” Danielle says light-heartedly, “We’re both quirky, we get along well. I’ve only had him for 6 months, he’s training medium/advanced but I’m taking it slow & keeping him really happy & settled in the work. He’s a beautiful & impressive horse, I acquired him from Micheal Zavros & I feel like I’ve been very lucky to get the horse”. I asked her what she looks for in a potential grand prix horse & why she chose Thomas. “I do like a quirky horse, they have that little bit more energy when they’re tired, they can just find that spark. I like a horse that carries me along. To be a grand prix horse you need an engine with a trainable brain that wants to work with you. Especially with mares. A really good mare will give you 110% on their best day, they’ll also give you about 2% on a bad day. A good mare is worth their weight in gold. I wasn’t always ‘team mares” but I certainly am now.

I’ve got to have a connection with a horse, they’re your dance partner, there’s a lot of hours in that saddle. You have to want to be with them.

The goal now is to get Thomas to Grand Prix. There’s a good field of quality horses competing at that level here now & there are horses here being trained just as well in this country as they are overseas. I also think amateur riders are riding so much better now; they’re giving some of the professionals a run for their money!”

The reality is that most people don’t have the money to spend importing a horse, we have to work with what we’ve got, or try to buy a schoolmaster to teach you if you’re just starting out. “I’ve sold 4 small tour horses to fund the experience – it’s an expensive venture & you need the money. The first horse I took all the way though from the beginning to that level was a grey yearling colt I bought at an auction, HP Lother. He was training all the GP movements but we decided he wasn’t really good enough to be a Grand Prix horse. I should have still done it for the experience, and I would say to anyone do it for that reason. The GP is a long test, you & the horse needs to be fit… the more miles you can do at that level, the better you will be. It might not have been a super-star horse & we might have come last, but the experience would have been better for the next one. You try to keep the one that you think is special to get you all the way there & you hope that you can get it there sound & sane.

I do say to people you might have an average horse that is rock-solid,

don’t be shy to have a go just because it’s not Valegro.

It’s hard to find a Sinner for the lucky-money I paid for her.

Sometimes you can create one with what you’ve got.

Give it a go. It’s your own journey”.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

So what is it like being a professional rider & trainer? “It’s not glamorous. It’s a hard job & it’s exhausting. It’s long hours & late nights. The horses are always fed before us. It’s sawdust in your hair, muddy boots and hay down your bra. I still clean stables & groom the horses every day.

I think you’ll find most riders pick up a rake & have to do the work.

It is fulfilling when you achieve things with horses, even horses I train for people & give back. It’s satisfying to see the horse go from being newly broken in to being ready to go out & compete with the owner, it’s going around calmly & they can just enjoy it. All those things make you really happy as a coach and trainer.

Sometimes that’s more important than going and riding the GP, seeing those people achieving their goals. I plan to wind the training back a bit over the next few years to just keep coaching & enjoying my own horses”.

“I don’t believe there’s ever perfection, I think there’s just improvement. As a rider you have to remember they have their days as well. They’re not machines. They’re doing us a favour just letting us on! If something goes wrong, put it behind you and move on. Focus, read your tests, speak to your coach, debrief. In this sport, you need eyes on the ground. It’s not something you can do alone. It’s very important to find a coach that you understand and will work well with the horse. And make sure they’re not just taking your money, making you feel good, because you can just go and have a massage instead! Finally, they might not work for every horse.

This is a sport where 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal 2 …

Sometimes there has to be a different way.

But there’s ALWAYS an answer.

That’s exactly what Sinner showed me.”

EM

Danielle is based in SE Qld. For training, lessons & sale horse info

@Diarmin Park Professional Dressage Trainer - Danielle Shearer

Danielle riding ‘Thomas’ at home, Diarmin Park, Tamborine, Qld. 95

FIRST EDITION 2022

AOR Q&A

Anne-Marie Lasserre

Amazon noun

Glamazon noun

‘A member of a legendary race of female warriors belived by the ancient Greeks to exists on the edge of the known world.’

‘An exceptionally glamourous, self-confidant woman.

A blend of the words glamour(ous) and Amazon.’

//Anne-Marie Lasserre Anne-Marie is a former body builder who achieved international success in both Miss World & Miss Universe competitions. She was a figure model from the age of 19, a passion which she turned into a career which lasted more than 2 decades. She retired from competion at age 40 and decided, on the pIane coming home from her final Miss World appearance in Las vegas, that she had to find a new sport which the arthritis in her knees and hands wouldn’t stop her from enjoying.

That meant tennis & pole dancing were out. When a friend invited her on a trail ride a week later, she hadn’t been in the saddle since her 20’s. Riding for 2 hours along a bush trail, the wind in her pony-tail, she felt herself letting go of all the pressure and intentsity which went with being a pro body builder. So horse riding is was!

Now at age 46, Anne-Marie has 5 horses in work under the guidance of dressage coach Harvey Besley. She currently competes in Young Horse classes with her team. She is married to Treno, has no kids & two Chihuahua’s.

“Of course it made perfect sense for me to buy

the flashiest and most unsuitable horse to start with and on an emotional impulse I bought my first OTT, much to my hubands horror! After a 20 year absence from riding,

full of terror, excitement and ignorant bravado -

I was back in the saddle. Well sort of.

10mins later the saddle had slipped and I found myself doing an impromtu trick riding stunt. After a little commando roll into the dirt, I strapped an old stirrup leather around his bright bay neck and clung on for dear life. Zoom zoooom, he was away!!!”

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

Q How many horses do you have now ?

A-M I have 12 horses. My 35 yr old welsh pony, Freddie. A retired 26yr old dressage horse, Brave & two

retired show hacks, ZZ & Rio. My curent show horses are Frankie (hack) & Cleo (pony). Dressage horses Teddy, Adventure, Neo & Oscar. Dressage ponies Dash & Presley.

QWhat is your job ?

A-M Personal trainer. Boxing Coach. Posing and Deportment Mentor, Aesthetic Conditioning. I run my Personal Training company SASS by Lasserre as an online business and one on one services to help athlete’s find their best self for their sport of choice to total body transformations with an emphasis on longevity and peak physical fitness without living like a calorie nun.

Q What is t he difference between r‘ ide fitness’ & ot her types of fitness ?

A-M The fitness needed for ride fit is a balance of long-distance stamina, the ability of being able to mould yourself rhythmically to your ride, have a core and frame politely strong enough to guide your ride but not brute strength to block the movement… and then having enough energy to be able to do all the tasks post training like mucking out stables and throwing hay. The hardest thing I found returning to the saddle was my breathing! I would be working in the arena and thinking, ‘gee’s this poor thoroughbred is really working hard..’ when in reality it was me puffing and gasping for breath!”

After 20 years out of the saddle, I found my cardiovascular fitness really struggled to get to a point that I could actually make it through 20mins of consistent work on horse back. I could easily train in the gym for 4 hours and be on any electronic equipment but no amount of gym training beats the real ‘match fitness’ you achieve from actually riding...

especially sessions with a coach.

FIRST EDITION 2022

Q What

AOR Q&A

is a simple way someone can improve t heir r‘ ide fitness’ ?

A-M First thing is flexibility, the longer the fascia the easier it will be to extend and contract your control of your seat and position.

Next would-be cardiovascular fitness to help you aerobically but also cognitively to receive information to soft tissue (your brain) to help absorb the information your horse is giving you and your coach while you’re not dying of breathlessness

Q Describe a typical day?

A-M My day starts at 3am and I’m so lucky to have my Mum & Dad help me with the horses whilst I’m at work and my hubby doing all my maintenance on the property. I work a split shift so I can ride, attend my lessons, and manage the stables and the organization a show team

Q You have a very busy lifestyle; how do you keep your energy up during t he day ?

A-M My nutrition is plant based, I drink a lot of pureed vegetables throughout day. Up to 8 small meals a day and I substitute with pure Branch Chain Amino Acids to keep my brain and muscles ticking over. I try to have 7hrs minimum sleep (unbroken) or I can fall into bad habits like over working. Having suffered adrenal fatigue twice, I am now ferocious with my time as I have too many fur babies relying on me to look after them.

Q I like t hat you have kept your oldies, retirees & even added a rescue pony to t he herd . Why is t his & how important is it to you ?

A-M My horses mean so much to me, and once I gain a bond (“you had me at hello”, most of the time) and long term athletic relationship with them I feel it is my responsibility to return the unconditional love they have extended to me, even long past when their bodies aren’t able to train anymore. I also will not move on an injured horse. I know what it’s like to be written off when you’re not an asset to someone physically anymore.

Q What goals did you set yourself in your body building careeri? T he mot to of

Miss World is B ‘ eauty wit h a purpose;’ - what do you consider your purpose to be ?

A-M When I started out in the fitness industry I had my sights set on being an Iron woman but I couldn’t

make it to training as my shifts at the gym started at 5.30am so by a chance encounter I had met my first Body Building coach (Bob) and he had introduced me to the mysterious world of Fitness competition & mythical titles of Miss World Figure and Miss Universe Figure. I trained with him 5 days a week, sometimes twice a day.

When Bob passed away tragically, I became devoted to continuing the dream for two reasons. First as a tribute to the dedication and devotion Bob had always given me and secondly, to push myself past any level of athletism I ever had before.

In The Miss World Pageant, the participants champion a charity to raise funds with the help of the notoriety of the publicity from the event. In my figure competition career I was judged on condition of my muscle tone, beauty flow of physique, balanced muscle mass and deportment of muscle poses. I would like to think my personality shone through and was a role model off-stage for being professional in every way and always maintaining a graceful attitude no matter what the circumstance or placing at an event. Maybe that’s why I take in so many retired horses, it’s a way to give back for a wonderful career that was perpetuated by my fitness success.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

Q Do you look at a horse’s conformation/fitness like you do people in terms of

at hleticism & functionality ?

A-M I’m an aesthetic trainer, I deal with shape daily with anatomy and how I can train or shape an athlete into a winning package. I can size up a physique by silhouette from metres away. Even when I walk into a shopping centre or a restaurant, I sub-consciously select the work outs that I would help a person perform to become better or at an elite level. It’s been my professional focus to help some extraordinary people achieve super star status.

Horses are so similar, and I definitely have a type I am naturally drawn to! Although movement is far more important for higher levels of competition than just confirmation. I had to learn to stop looking at pretty faces and big bums! I always vet check my horses and screen athletes medically so I can pinpoint exactly how best to direct their training/ nutrition and supplements as intuition can only take you so far. Science based programming is very similar; function and purpose to prevent injury and to allow for x-factor to shine through naturally.

Q In an industry t hat highly values t he physical , what are some per sonality /character traits t hat you consider of great importance in your self & ot her s?

A-M Honesty, dependability and knowing credibility isn’t just showing up..Having respect for anyone your involved with even if you don’t always agree on the same point of view. I believe it’s very important to be heard but also really listen to your client or colleagues,

you can never totally understand someone else’s view,

Q

you’re just looking in the same direction.

Words to live by ?

A-M Opportunity not taken is opportunity missed

Q What s’ t he t hing you love most about riding ?

A-M That feeling of being connected to such power

Q What are your plans for

your team of horses t his year ?

A-M With so many exciting rides this year I will be aiming for the dressage arena.. I am a big fan of knowing ride times! EM

Anne-Marie runs SASS by Lasserre You can find her on instagram

@annemarielasserre

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FIRST EDITION 2022

EQUINE H E LASSISTED E N HTHERAPY UIE

The unspoken magic of horses The small girl stood in the paddock; her fingers played with her lip that she bit at. It’s late afternoon, the sun at this time-of-day filters through the eucalypts giving sessions at this time of day a magical glow. My herd of seven horses graze at a short distance to the girl, they periodically look towards the girl, who doesn’t approach the horses, but is waiting for one to choose her for her session. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is based in a consensual interaction; we accept that the horses will turn up at a session, just as they are. No expectations. That’s part of the beauty of this kind of work, there is deep and unconditional respect for each other, and sessions play out within the scope of how the horses show up.

A horse not wanting to participate in a particular session can be a powerful experience and growth point for some clients. For this client, I hope a horse comes forward. I stand at a short distance to the client, almost willing one of them to come forward. My young client has lived through horrors no one should ever have to experience. Her vulnerability is pulpable as she stands, waiting. Finally, one of the horses makes a move.

In my herd, I have several ponies who are extroverts that love this work. The horse that approaches is my 2-year-old warmblood gelding, Kenlock Hampton Sky. I haven’t offered clients the opportunity to work with Hampton before. He is young, aloof and to date has shown no interest in interacting in sessions. Not today. He ambles toward the girl. His head low, eyes soft. My client has very limited horse experience but stands still while Hampton approaches. A foundation of the work in EAP is the use of the breath (in particular the ‘out’ breath) to help emotional regulation. In my practice with children, I refer to it as ‘the horse breath’, and it’s something we usually establish quite early on in sessions to help support clients. Horses model the use of the outbreath as their own way to relieve stress and emotionally regulate. Hampton stops in front of the girl, almost nose to nose, (I am ready to jump in if the client feels uncomfortable or if the horse forgets its special awareness). He pokes his nose towards her, and she places her hand on his cheek. A simple caress, that they both seem to be encapsulated in. This is a horse, that to date, has shown very little interest in people, or even other horses. She takes a step toward him to stroke his neck, and he gently wraps his enormous head and neck around her tiny shoulders, as if to pull her in for a hug. They stand there for a moment, both in each other’s worlds. He takes an enormous out breath, and the girl looks to me for reassurance, and I encourage her to follow his lead.

There is some kind of emotional or energetic synchronicity happening.

Most horse lovers can attest to the unspoken magic of horses

And here is it.

Powerful, unspoken connection.

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EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

My grandmother was a superb equestrienne and was well known in her outback district for being able to outride men. I would listen hours on end of her talking about her station life, and how much she loved her mare, Mabel. The human-horse bond that they had built the understanding that horses were more than ‘animals’ but true friends. She paid for my first pony ride when the circus visited town - I can still remember the feeling of sitting up on that scruffy little Shetland, I could have been the queen of the world. And that was it. I was hooked. In 1986 my family brought a property and with it my first pony – Fifi. The farm had been an Arabian horse stud, and the owners had left a number of brood mares behind. I remember much of my childhood holidays just following the horses around, watching them and learning their herd dynamics and language. I had grown up in a chaotic world, and these moments with the horses gave me a sense of peace and order that was deeply soothing. I think this set up a solid foundation of ‘love of the horse’ with compassion and connection at the forefront of my horse ownership philosophy.

In the early 1990’s, and my early teens I was working in a shoe store Thursday nights and Saturday mornings and would take my little envelope of pay to the newsagent to buy the Hoof & Horns magazine once a month. This was my gateway to the horse world, and where my interest in show horses began. A particular article however, changed the course of my life. An article in 1990’s about a family in SE Qld who brought in a group of indigenous youth who were juvenile offenders, each child was allocated an unbroken horse, they were taught to break in the horse, and all aspects of horse handling, and at the end of their time, competed that horse in the Tom Quilty.

A fire lit in me, that 30 years later still burns bright.

The idea of helping kids through horses drove me to study teaching, psychology, counselling and has led me to establishing The Stables Counselling & Equine Assisted Therapy. It hasn’t been a linear path, with a lot of my own trauma getting in the way of my dreams. In the late 90’s I had dropped out of uni and started breaking in horses.

In the days before the internet, I spent a lot of time reading about different styles of training, from the German and Spanish schools to natural styles of horsemanship. My philosophy of horse training is you find a way of working with horses that fits in with the way you think – shaped by cognition style, personality, experience, and your understanding of horse cognition and behaviour.

I figure, we all come to horses with such a unique blend of skills, capacities, and understandings, that we all come to the space with something different – so no m od e l of t ra i n i ng

wi l l fit eve ryon e,a nd t h is is a

continuum over time.

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FIRST EDITION 2022

When I was younger the work of John Chatterton really clicked with me. Compassion for the horse has always been at the forefront of my love of horses. I’ve always looked for teachings based on this and in recent times have been really enjoying Warwick Schiller’s work. I have always put my love of horses first, and the sport second. I feel like you can look around the horse world and almost draw a line between those who love the horse, and those who love the sport. I think I’ve taken this into my mental health work also.

I started my journey as a High School teacher, but quickly became disenchanted with the system, it just failed so many kids. I took time out of teaching and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 11 years. It’s here I really came to understand the world of mental health disorders and had the opportunity to learn off some of the world’s leaders in this space.

While I was working, I started studying psychology online. At the end of my undergraduate degree, I decided that the psychological medical model (which sees people as parts - their depression, anxiety, ADD etc.) wasn’t for me and I started looking around at other options. I felt that a holistic approach to client wellbeing had the best chance of helping people. Being able to see all aspects of a client’s life, and how all those parts bring a rich tapestry of information to truly understand a person was what led me to counselling. I completed a graduate diploma and masters.

Studying through the Equine Psychotherapy Institute (EPI) to get my equine therapy qualifications has been the thing to bring it all together.

I was quite hesitant to subscribe to any particular equine therapy model and spent some time researching the different models as there seemed some practitioners marketing the ‘unicorn factor’.

To me, this is when horses are portrayed as having magical qualities – such as the ability to sync with our heart rate, protecting us, offer nurturing and kindness to point of suggesting they won’t behave as horses and never kick or bite etc. I have seen a

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number of practitioners offer this brand of therapy with no evidence-based practice, and unrealistic expectations of their horses with an over reliance of client dopamine release through a fluffy experience with the horse, instead of ‘doing the work’ in an evidence based, safe therapeutic practice.

I didn’t want to try to make horses out to be some magical beasts

that by their mere presence

you will be healed.

The current literature around equine therapies provides compelling evidence for its use. I don’t believe embellishing the therapeutic value of the human/horse relationship is needed, in fact I think it could be detrimental to the industry. Working with horses by acknowledging them for what they are, perfectly themselves as herd and prey animals, as playful and curious, provides a more authentic opportunity for the client to understand themselves and their world through the nuances of the horse and herd. Embellishing horses to almost machine-like status is not required.

A horse’s natural therapeutic qualities are there,

no unicorn factor needed!

With that understanding of horses, real magic in the therapeutic relationship can happen. The EPI model comes from a place of deep respect of both the client’s truth and compassion for horses. It’s a space in which the work we do is guided by the horse and client.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

Consent forms a crucial part of our human-horse interactions.

We respect the horse’s decision to turn up to the session however feels right for them, and if that means that they don’t wish to actively participate, then that’s okay, horse and herd observation then become our horse experience. Adopting this practice to my everyday horse work has created a profound shift in my relationship with my horses. I feel like I have come home – back to where I started. With just a genuine love for horses, with no expectation. It’s certainly enhanced my gratitude of owning horses and has really improved my relationship with them. It takes me straight back to my childhood days of following the horses and just being in awe of them. I feel like part of the herd again. I have days where a horse doesn’t want to be worked and overcoming my wants in favour of the horses’ needs isn’t always easy. There are times I really have to check my ego and ground myself back to my values. It has also helped me tune in with my horse’s micro cues of stress and I find that I’m taking more of a role in helping my horses regulate when they do get worried about things. It’s slow work, but I feel successful knowing that I am prioritising my horse’s wellbeing.

It means that I may not produce my ponies to a standard that wins in the show world, and at times we don’t even get on the float, but listening to my horses’ boundaries and giving them choice makes me happy. I feel this flows on to the therapeutic work I do. Holding space for clients, teaching through the horse to help them emotionally regulate, and seeing them for who they are without judgment. My client base is mostly neurodiverse children who work so synergistically with the horses. I haven’t had a session yet where at least one of the horses hasn’t shown up. I really feel like they are enjoying this work as much as I am!

Although working with children is my passion. I currently have several projects in the pipeline. I am working with a friend to bring women’s wellness and empowerment retreats to the Gold Coast Hinterland. These will be deeply nourishing experiences with a multimodal delivery, including specialists in yoga, breath work, sound healing, shamanistic and cacao healing rituals, and equine experience. I love empowering women, and truly believe in the power and healing of the tribe. It’s been such a long, and challenging road to get to where I am. I am really excited to share my learning with the world!

Helen runs The Stables Counselling & Equine Assisted Therapy west of Brisbane, Qld. Find more info about her Kids Clubs & individual sessions here

www.thestablescounselling.com.au

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Ranch Riding & Horsemanship Clinics . Training Videos

Find Sue Williams Equine Versatility on Facebook & YouTube

Wellness

WITH AMBRE WHATLEY

As a naturopath, I practice in keeping with a set of values that guide the profession, ensuring consistency in ethical and person-centred, evidence-based care. There is an artful weaving of time-tested good old-fashioned wisdom, together with up-tothe-minute research that informs this work.

Naturopaths engage a broad spectrum of therapeutic modalities, the primary constituents being herbal medicine, lifestyle counselling and targeted nutritional guidance or supplementation. Complementing those; hydrotherapy, mindfulness, energetic medicines like flower essences and homeopathy, remedial massage, somatic therapies and exercise science, creative therapies and so on. Beyond all the fancy methods and medicaments, naturopathy is about helping people come back home to themselves.

To take radical responsibility for their own health, whatever that may look like to the individual. “Good” health & wellness is

subjective, & not mine or anyone else’s to define for you.

My zest and motivation in this arena lie in facilitating a re-connection between people and their bodies, the environments around them and how those things work with and against each other, helping you see those bits of you that may have been forgotten or covered up along the way by the inevitable detritus of modern life.

A lot of the women I see in clinic appear to be doing “all the right things” and still feel like there’s something missing, something not quite right. A persistent underlying fatigue, a dragging upon waking or in the mid-afternoon. A quickness to anger or fret. A sigh held in the chest too long. A knot in the stomach. A thrum behind the eyes ignored more times than you can remember. Remember when it didn’t hurt?

For some of you, that might be ‘No’. Sometimes, we carry things throughout our lives. It may have always been that way, for as long as you can remember. In that case, what is this part of you here to lay claim to? What can you learn from your own subtle whisperings? Maybe the healing doesn’t come from trying to fix it but by listening deeply and integrating wholly what we hear. With unconditional positive regard, perhaps. There’s a lot of noise out there and a calm knowingness of what is truly going on with your biology is an empowering thing. To me, this is really and truly naturopathy. A conduit back to self.

I see the same reciprocal relationship between the horse and the human. The deep listening.The loving acceptance. The responding in turn, to each other. The misunderstandings and the calm knowingness. Can you use those carefully honed skills to turn your listening ear inwards? Sometimes it’s just a whisper. A soft whinny speaking to a far-off storm.

FIRST EDITION 2022

Now I am not a horsewoman myself. I was raised in the country and spent my days climbing shaky, lichen-covered fences and picking through pastures, but I was always more interested in studying closely the dancing silhouettes of native grasses and smelling the pungent herbs poking out around my bare feet. Foraging and sampling wild mushrooms to my parents sheer horror as I recalled the days adventures over the dinner table.

My friends had horses. I have carried a genuine reverence for horse girls my entire life. What strong, sovereign women, confidently commanding these magnificent beasts.

Surely, if you can ride a horse with a smile, you can do most anything.

My friends still have horses. And much to my absolute delight, my daughter rides horses. As well she should, born in Texas, with Choctaw blood running through her veins, which are both a people and a heritage breed of horse from the same region.

The legend of the capable horsewoman endures, but it’s less myth and more lore these days, as I see with my own more seasoned eyes the innate tenacity that exists within the Equestrienne. A fierce determination to show up and get it done. A loyalty to their four-legged partners that must be comprable only to that between mother and child, selfless. I see too where, like the dedicated and resilient mother, there is a tendency to push on through the bone-tired exhaustion. To grab the fastest food available and eat it on the run, powering through with bottomless coffee until it’s time to switch to something colder. Existing on a bare minimum of sleep. The dry, chapped lips. Leaving herself to last. I see her diligently tend the aches and wounds her animals encounter, to ensure their every comfort and protection from the harsh elements, to nourish them with the cleanest freshest food at reliable routine times of the day, without missing a beat.

Where is that same heartfelt respect & commitment to her own worthy body though? Both human & horse exist because of an intricate

interplay of intelligent parts, each demanding & deserving of proper care & tuning. How can we redistribute some of this unflappable dedication

to making sure both rider & ridden are at optimum personal vitality?

A considerable chunk of gross (no, really, it is so gross) domestic profit has arisen from the spectacular boom of the global health and wellness industry over the past few years. Never mind the racket that is big pharma, the retail consumer market for so-called natural and alternative health is veritably dripping with pills, potions and paraphernalia that are promised to make you a glowing representation of peak human health. A remedy for every malady, only a click away. Your health is their wealth. Or is it? Does it have to be? I challenge the folks I speak with to look a little closer to home for their healing helpers. To be resourceful with what grows naturally around them. To get back to the basics we know have served our rugged ancestors well. I encourage leaning into those essential and very perceivable medicines, like food; that is to say, good nutrition.

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

T h e m o s t a cc e s s i b l e h e a l i n g co m i n g f r o m a m p l e d o s e s o f

sunshine, fresh air, friendship, laughter, clean water, connection.

These things, for most, come only at the cost of your time, which is scant I know,

that is where the schedule ends and the masterpiece begins.

I’ll let you in on a secret – it doesn’t have to be that hard. It does take consistency, and finding your flow may take a few stops and false starts but when doesn’t any good thing take time? A willingness to try is key, and I know you’ve got barrels of that. The other good news is that wellness exists along a continuum, and that continuum is not a perfectly straight line. As we grow and change, our ideas about wellness and what we need to be well will organically shift and change. But there are inarguable foundations of wellness that hold true for us all. One of those is water. A cellular necessity for all life on earth. And one of those things that is just so easy to let slide. How’s your hydration right now? When you pull the skin on the back of your hand up, does it stay wrinkled for a couple of seconds when you let go? Stale breath or smelly pits? Experienced any muscle cramps today? Craving something sweet? Headache or dry eyes? If you’ve answered yes, you’re likely dehydrated.

Although it’s important to realise that proper hydration doesn’t just mean eight cups a day. While that’s still better than no cups, the quality of your water, and also your electrolyte status matters. Electrolytes are your sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphate, and calcium molecules that work to regulate cellular processes in nerve and muscle fibres, conducting an electrical current when suspended in water. Electrolytes are easily lost with sweating. If they’re not replaced, you’ll hear about some of those aforementioned symptoms loud and clear!

Pre-gaming your hydration needs for the day is one sure-fire way to see changes in your overall wellness.

A favourite hydration hack I love is juice of a lemon, squeezed and sliced skin and all into a big bottle of filtered water, along with any other fruit that’s singing out and maybe some fresh mint leaves if they’re around. A good pinch of the best sea salt you can find, and a spoon of maple syrup or honey can also help with those lost electrolytes. Try readying yourself some revved-up water tonight before bed, it’ll take you less than 5 minutes. Start the day on it, before that first sacred sip of hot coffee. Carry a bottle of it with you through your day. Try that every day this week. Check back in with yourself through the day and take notes of what you hear. Try that for one week, a working week maybe. Five days. Then give yourself a high-five for making this healthy new habit part of your routine. It gets easier from here. Some of the most profound shifts in our health can arise from the simplest changes when all we offer ourselves is the opportunity and a little consistency. Rinse and repeat, find the rhythm, make it yours. Because remember, you too, are worthy of that same stalwart adoration you give your groomed and stabled companions.

My name is Ambre Whatley, BHSc. I am a naturopathic medicine practitioner, lifelong student, and nature enthusiast living graciously with my husband and our three almost grown children on a sub-tropical rainforest mountain behind the Pacific Ocean on Yugambeh country, traditional home to the Wangerriburra people of the region now known as Southeast Queensland. I have spent considerable years encouraging people of all ages to embrace their innate creativity as an integral part of their overall self-care as an important tool for cultivation of their multi-faceted personhood. Above all, I want all bodies to be able to access safe, supportive options for their health journey.

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FIRST EDITION 2022

Coo-ee from Coleychelle

As the sun rises on another stunning morning in the Coleyville Valley, you realise how blessed some of us are to do what they love with family.

Holly & her homebred stallion, Kennallywood Talladega

Hair Test Lab, Kennallywood Stud, Breeding and Equine Rehab Centre are cocooned at Coleychelle Farm in the Scenic Rim. Each family member has their individual passions and that’s what drives the forward motion all the time.

Hair Test Lab and Kennallywood Equine Rehab is the passion of Ali Hall with nutrition and a whole of life approach to equine health. Horses from near and far arrive for treatment and rehab after surgery or injury. With the facilities at Kennallywood being a major factor in assisting the rehab process from swimming pool, undercover magnum walker, cushioned racetrack and 3 arenas, an exercise program is designed specifically for individual needs along with nutritional and dietary support. There are double-size stables with fans and cushioned floors with a view which are available for those equine athletes that need confinement in addition to spelling facilities.

Hair Testing and the office team are always there to help in any way possible to keep your beloved ponies and performance horses in the best of heath. Happy Healthy Horses!

Slim Perrin is the man on the feed buggy after his early morning trip to the racetrack with his team. Training racehorses for the last 11 years has been the most rewarding for Slim an experienced horseman, still is active but no longer riding. Polocrosse and campdrafting as well as training working dogs has been the best background for this quiet and easy-going man of few words that lets his performance speak for itself. The relaxing outlook and environment the racehorses are in, as they are trained from paddocks that overlook the valley makes for the most natural setting and happy horses.

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Holly Hall-Perrin was the product of her parents’ passion in this industry, now she is the driving force. Holly’s love of everything reproduction and genetics has taken her to train internationally so Kennallywood Stud has the ability to embryo a small selection of top performance horses to a worldwide gene pool. Good competition horses in all fields are appreciated and bloodlines nurtured to produce quality horses with exceptional natures and athleticism.

Kennallywood Clinics has developed through the want to share empowerment, confidence, and knowledge. Clinicians and communicators that are the best in their field from body workers, campdrafting, cutters, reiners, sports psychologists, liberty specialists etc are booked for 2022. For further details on these go to www.kennallywoodclinics.com This has been developed and pursued as there is a great need for a better understanding of the communication between human and horse. Not only within a physical interaction level but on an Alpha interaction level.

Holly and her husband Jack Ahearn also have JKO Industries which services the rural sector in the form of steel fabrication including sheds, truck bodies and trailers, cattle yards, fencing, stabling facilities and arenas. Jack’s passion is cattle and moving from commercial cattle to now expanding into the Speckle Park stud. This family affair introduces the next generation to the equestrian and rural way of life in their children Kip & Sadie.

Kennallywood Stud and Hair Test Lab involves an extended family that embraces the same insight and holistic approach to life. The team at the stables and the team at the office join together over breakfast each morning to laugh and discuss all plans for the day ahead. This communication is the core to the success of a united team environment.

Kennallywood is the one stop equine service, incorporating consultant veterinarians, educational programs, qualifications within the rural sector, breeding, educating and selling quality performance horses.

It has been a pleasure for me to visit and enjoy the ambience and mindset of this team that is so willing to share their knowledge and embrace new concepts and programs. EM

Hair Testing Laboratory “Coleychelle Farm” 347 Coleyville Road, Coleyville Qld 4307 07 5467 1800 info@hairtestlab.com.au

www.hairtestlab.com.au for clinics & stud info

www.kennallywood.com.au

FIRST EDITION 2022

CON F I D E N C E WITH ZO E O LIVE

g n i l e e F g n i n i That W Many years ago I plonked myself under a tree on Christmas Day and settled in to read my present to myself “That Winning Feeling”. Can you really have a feeling of winning?

What actually constitutes winning?

For some, it is the blue ribbon. The sash of a champion. The garland of flowers draped around the neck. In reality, that winning feeling is so much more. From what I recall, the book promoted a visualisation of riding out there as if you were winning, riding the perfect pattern or test or workout, images of standing on the winner’s podium floating through your brain. Feeling that buzz prickle through your body as you ride your workout knowing that you’ve topped it, nailed it on all counts. You just know when you’ve won it, when you are unbeatable. There are those moments - that winning feeling.

However, for many of us, that winning feeling is something more.

It may be an air of confidence, a moment of assertiveness, a display of leadership. That winning feeling is knowing when you’ve had a break-through - that ‘a-ha’ moment when everything clicks and the horse-stars align.

Sometimes, it is even when we give ourselves permission to not persevere with a horse that we simply don’t get on with, or to admit that we’ve lost our nerve and need to find form again. To acknowledge that you are a nervous-nelly or that you are having “mummy-moments” when you ride, is a step towards that winning feeling.

“Who would’ve thought that a 4 year-old stock horse would give me my confidence back …” I overheard a future winner observe. After a freak fall and injury, the practice of riding fearlessly had eluded her for some time. Yet here she sat astride her brown gelding with a smile projecting that winning feeling.

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The combination of trust built in herself, work with her coach and her horse, and a toolkit of techniques and foundation exercises, has boosted her confidence to a level where she can ride, compete and do whatever spins her spurs … so long as she continues to believe in herself and visualise that winning feeling.

With confident riding and horse-handling comes increased self-esteem, which in turn leads to assertiveness and leadership.

How many times have you heard some comment about showing who’s boss being a “must” around horses?

Yet leadership is not about dominance. It is about being assertive and carrying out a movement or a decision with conviction and positivity. To be decisive and clear about what you are going to do and where you are going to ride, instils confidence in your horse and in you as a horse person.

Today a friend said to me that she wanted to be just like me. A flattering comment, if only I had no faults! Yet all I did was show her how to teach her horse to lead and to add to her toolkit another exercise on applying pressure and release so that she could load her horse on and off the float fuss-free. She can do it herself now - both she and her horse have that wining feeling. And she intends to master it! She said I had an “air” about me - that winning feeling perhaps?

At the same time, there are those who also may view that winning feeling as arrogance, begrudging the fact that to achieve it you exude an air of correctness, that your way is right and that it will work. I would argue that it is merely assertiveness, confidence, self-belief, and leadership all bundled into a successful winning feeling.

But a word of warning - when you visualise that winning feeling and your win comes to fruition, always remember where you came from! That, my horse-happy friends, is the ultimate winning feeling!

Remember to just ride 15 minutes a day, five days a week.

Happy riding!

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ION 2022 FFI IRRSS TT EEDDI TI T ION 2022

Mel Spitt all

When I got home this afternoon, I literally had to drag myself through the door. I am exhausted, covered in sweat and dirt and hair, oh and speaking of hair mine looks like I’ve just rolled out of bed. If my family were here they’d tell me to go take a shower as I’m pretty sure the potent blend of horse poop, sweat and soiled stable shavings smell wouldn’t be very pleasant for them. My back is sore and my legs are aching.

I may also have some mild sun stroke…and all that aside, I’ve never felt happier. My heart is full and I feel accomplished. Like I totally won at life today. Yes, this work can be physically tough, so what exactly is it about horses that draws me to them? I ask myself that question all the time.

I catch myself reminiscing of days spent out riding, alone, meandering around our property or those adjoining, crossing streams, traipsing through orchards and galloping up the back hills. I was a little girl back then, always lost in my own world, daydreaming, wandering, completely comfortable with the fact I was by myself, but also with this somewhat intrinsic understanding that I was never really alone. You see, I’ve always been pretty sensitive to the world around me and even at such a tender age I had this underlying awareness that I was, in fact, in constant, non verbal communication with this other being underneath me.

My horse, my best friend.

Have you ever wondered why you gravitate towards horses?

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Image by Canty image byKristy Kristi Canty

WOMEN + HORSES

EQUESTRIENNE MAGAZINE

As a woman, have you ever pondered what it is about them that seems to draw you in? Where you obsessed with them as a kid, or are they something you found later in life? Do you know why?

Have you ever thought it strange that the majority of the equine industry in the western world is dominated mostly by female figures, competitively, professionally and recreationally? I’m not quite sure what it was that drew me to horses all those years ago, but I think I may have an understanding of why it’s something that I have fought to keep in my life for the past 30 or so years.

When I reflect back on those times, riding the hills, just myself and my horse, I recall a definite sense of freedom. As a young girl horses offered me that freedom and independence I so craved. They helped me discover, (amongst many other things) an exquisite balance of control and surrender, not only with them, but it transferred into my adult life also. For some girls or women horses may also offer an escape, from bullying at school or an abusive home life? Perhaps there’s some small notion inside of us that tells us that there is some common ground to be found between ourselves and a horse. Perhaps it’s the idea that the horse, at some point in it’s life, has most probably been disempowered as we have.

Now, we all know that women are generally not as physically strong as men. It’s just a biological fact.

We are by design, the smaller, weaker sex. So could it be that by shovelling barrow loads of poop, and coming home with hay in our hair and dirt under our nails, we feel we are somehow challenging the traditional gender norms? Perhaps by giving ourselves the opportunity to go out and ‘get our hands dirty’, and by learning to effectively work with and handle a large and powerful flight animal, we inadvertently acquire some strength through influence and acceptance.

If we think about equestrianism and the fact that it is the only Olympic sport where men and women compete against each other on a level playing field, then that in itself could really speak to a sense of gender equality for us.

Did you know that two thirds of the nearly 30,000 athletes in the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) database of competitors in the Olympics disciplines were females? For the last three or four decades women have been streaming into the equestrian sports. So much so that we are now the more represented gender.

And, what about the physical aspects of interacting with our equine friends? Such a strong and powerful animal can be intimidating for sure, especially for those younger girls or women that are a lot smaller physically. So, when we learn how to control and communicate with a 450kg beast that has a mind of its own, it becomes in and of itself an inherently rewarding practice. To have such an animal respond to what you’re asking of it is very much an empowering process.

Now even though horses may be strong, powerful and difficult

to train at times, and this could possibly be attributing to our sense of self empowerment on many levels, they are also

extremely communicative animals that can be incredibly

trusting and gentle

once a genuine relationship

is established.

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Have you ever had to listen to your husband or boyfriend complain about how you spend too much time with the horses, or how that you clearly love the horses more than you do him? He’s most probably saying these things in jest right, but unfortunately he does have a point. By design, women are built for nurturing.

Women, more so than men, are focused on building positive and loving relationships. Horses inherently require companionship and seem to respond well to this commitment to relationship that women offer them. Horses also require a lot of care, and so by focusing on this relationship and taking care of them, could we subconsciously be fulfilling our own biological impulse for nurturing and care taking?

It’s definitely possible, right? On the topic of biology, did you know that as a woman you possess this really cool thing called the ‘empathy advantage’.

Women also have a greater connectivity between the left (language and rhythm) and right (emotions and melody) sides of our brains and tend to process equally well between the two hemispheres. We therefore experience more feelings and we hold this ability more so than men. I am by no means being sexist and realise that there is always exceptions to the rule, however, most men tend to process better in the left hemisphere of their brains, the more logical and analytical side. So, as men and women, our brains are wired very differently, and this naturally makes us women that much more adept at picking up on non verbal cues and reading the body language of animals and humans.

Horse training itself requires the participant to understand, read, and relate to the subtle signs the horse is giving. This, in essence

is relationship building,

a n d th is is a lso the key to successful horse ownership,

riding and competing.

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Have you ever noticed that the skills we use to train our horses (like non verbal communication, and understanding what rewards and punishes our horses) are the very same skills we use to influence our own children and romantic partners behaviours? That’s not coincidental.

Linda Kohanov in her book The Tao of Equus has a very deep, and beautifully profound insight into a womens attraction to equines - “These, sensitive non predatory beings respond to the world in ways that are traditionally associated with feminine values. Horses relate to the world from a feminine or “yin” perspective. As a result, the species is a living example of the success and effectiveness of feminine values, including cooperation over competition, responsiveness over strategy, emotion and intuition over logic, process over goal, and the creative approach to life that these qualities engender”.

Maybe this could be the elusive answer to the age old question…why women and horses? Maybe it goes a great deal deeper than sheer physical size, self empowerment or a fulfilment of our empathetic, nurturing natures. Perhaps they are in fact a mirror, and they do, in fact, reflect back to us so beautifully that which we see in them, the potential success and effectiveness of our own values and perspectives?

Which ever way we look at it, there is something profoundly empowering about this relationship between women and horses. It’s a close and intimate relationship and one that can certainly act as a catalyst for personal reflections, revelations and self awareness. It’s a relationship that I know has changed mine and many, many other lives for the better.

Mel is an equine trainer, coach & mentor specialising in ethical, evidence-based horsemanship, equine behaviour & welfare. She is also a professional animal trainer, a Diploma of Equitation Science student, free-lance writer, professional photographer & a lifelong horse woman. Mel lives with her family in the Gold Coast Hinterland & currently runs her business Zen Equestrienne out of CLM Equine in Boyland.

For lesson, clinic & workshop info

zenequestrienne.com.au

Until next time, enjoy the ride...

@caleb.degan for Equestrienne Magazine

FIRST EDITION 2022

Vet Wraps

WITH D r RU TH

Dr Ruth Melbourne is a sun-seeker, racing enthusiast & equine vet.

She works as an associate veterinarian at Warwick Farm Equine Centre.

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE? Busy! Especially leading into and during carnival time. Most of

the days are filled with routine maintenance things like trot ups and lameness prevention and management as well as post-gallop and trial assessment including scoping and recovery assistance. We also have a surgeon come in a few times a week for operations like tie backs and arthroscopies ect. On those days I can end up doing the anaesthetic or scrubbing in to assist if needed. Apart from that a lot of my day is spent on the phone (which I actually didn’t realise until you came and visited and captured it on camera!) WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BEING A VET? That’s a difficult one.. I think there are many hard, difficult and frustrating days as a vet! The most rewarding thing would probably have to be getting horses feeling and performing the best that they can! As well as seeing your favourite horses winning good races. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO SPEND A DAY OFF? Well, as much as I enjoy aspiring to the whole work-life balance thing... I’d have to say going to the races.. or jumping the patchy pony Pablo. HOW DO YOU TAKE YOUR COFFEE? Soy cap with an equal. But if I was desperate enough, I would drink toilet water if it was caffeinated! WHERE TO NEXT ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET LIST AND WHY? ooohhhh, travel is something I’ve been missing a lot! So my absolute bucket list d r e a m is to go to Costa Rica and visit the sloth sanctuary, I’m a massive sloth fan. WHAT’S THE BEST GIFT YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED? A trainer gave me a share in my favourite racehorse at the time, that was pretty awesome. He was fairly slow, but he had such a big heart! He became my pony after racing as well, he was such a dude! WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU READ? A dog’s purpose (still reading)- a real tear jerker! I just love dogs so much. IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE? Flamingo Beach, Aruba. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH WORK STRESS? Not well... haha.. I try to have healthy boundaries. Work can be stressful and consuming if you let it, I think having some boundaries and giving yourself some space is really important in preventing getting overwhelmed. Having a life outside work is also super important for me. Humor is probably a big one too, I mean sometimes you just have to laugh. Having good mates is also a massive help. WHAT CAREER ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF? Probably to relax! I think I spent the early part of my career trying to be the best vet I could, as quickly as I could. That came with a lot of anxiety, long hours and hard work. I was super lucky to have a lot of good support and guidance along the way, but looking back I probably wish I’d taken advantage of having less on my plate at the time. As the years go on you get more things piling on that you have to deal with.

I wish I could tell myself that there’s plenty of anxiety and stress in the future so enjoy what you have right now.

WHAT DO YOU PUT ON HOT CHIPS? Soy sauce and vinegar. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU CLEAN YOUR APARTMENT TO? It really depends! It could be anything from Touch Sensitive to Drake or Lana Del Rey. DOG OR CAT? Dog (duh)- everyone loves Harvey! WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE HORSE MOVIE? Racing Stripes FAVOURITE RACEHORSE? Mo’Unga FAVOURITE COCKTAIL? Spicy Marg (Pour heavy with hot chillies) WHAT HAS THIS JOB TAUGHT YOU MOST? Take the wins when you get them because there are plenty of losses. ADVICE FOR A KID WHO WANTS TO BECOME A VET? Well, I almost always tell them not to do it!

It’s a tough gig that takes up a lot of your life, you could get a lot of job satisfaction and probably more money doing something else! I suppose for the ones that are sure this is for them, I would suggest finding happiness in the everyday, small things you see and achieve. It will make for a happier existence. WORDS TO LIVE BY? I always say a badly painted nail is always worse than a non-painted one. So if you don’t have time to do your nails -don’t.

Also no caffeine after 2pm (I’m a terrible sleeper even when I abide by this rule) ANY TIPS FOR THE AUTUMN CARNIVAL?! (ASKING FOR A FRIEND..) Haha, just follow Zaaki’s little pink lip. He’s usually in front of the rest!

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KEEP CALM AND COLOUR-IN. SEU- inspired colouring comp brought to you by Flash Pony.

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First prize - wine. Second prize - wine. (Just joking. Maybe) Prizes valued at $200 for 1st/$100 2nd.

To enter post on Instagram using #EMcolourin or email to hello@equestriennemagazine.com Competition closes 1/07/22. By entering you agree to the T&C’s listed on our website. Artwork by Evelyn May.

performaride.com.au

F O R . E V E RY. B O DY

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FIRST EDITION 2022

BLACK COLT CLOTHING Quality country clothing for the whole family. Designed by two rural women to last the test of time.

www.blackcoltclothing.com

11 Photography by Emma Moss - Life on a Station